Adapt to Live
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: ·Angel/demon AU· It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it was possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.
1. Part 1

**Summary** : After leaving Heaven and turning into a demon, Tao was sure things had settled to some kind of normality. The angel coming down and not turning into a demon wasn't something Tao thought ze would ever see.

Angel/demon au written for nano!

If you read First Contact (the angel/demon snippet I posted last month), uh. I basically took that base idea and rewrote _everything_. XD; So if you read that, it's no longer relevant to what happens in this fic, haha.

Still doubting if these characters are recognisable from canon, but yeah. There are quite a few changes to certain things to account for the differences.

I'm not happy with my outline of the middle and climax, but we'll see what happens when I get there. Also, I need to improve the summary, hah.

ze/hir/hir for Tao's pronouns.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao narrowed hir eyes, hir breath wisping as ze followed the trail of power ze had sensed an hour ago. It was stronger than what Tao had sensed in years and it was like a call. Someone was calling out to hir, telling hir they were there.

They were elusive though, playing a game of hide and seek as their power dipped in and out of sensing range. It had to be someone young, someone who didn't even realise they were announcing their presence to anyone who were sensitive to those energies. The ones who ripped the power out of the human bodies to take as their own.

The tracks in the snow didn't help give Tao a better direction and ze tightened the scarf around hir neck to protect it from the cold, hir wings rustling to a breeze only they could feel.

Something clattered up ahead and Tao snapped hir head towards it, running in that direction. Where? Where _were they_?

Movement down an alley caught Tao's attention and ze skidded as ze summoned hir whip and lashed it around the demon's chest just as they leaped at the other person in the alley.

Tao sent the demon crashing to the ground with a yank, their trapped wings thrashing against hir whip.

Demon subdued for the second, Tao lifted hir head to the human –kid, but the looks of it- and opened hir mouth to tell them-

Something was wrong.

The kid had backed up against the wall, but they weren't frozen. Their breathing was deep and easy, their eyes narrowed. Tao knew what someone who was afraid for their life looked like, and this wasn't it.

A demon too taken in by the prey that was in front of them wouldn't have noticed.

Tao jerk hir head at a crunch behind hir. This part of town was deserted, away from the main street and shops and one bad signal was enough to make Tao wary-

A taller kid with pale long hair and then there was a burst of power _far_ stronger than what had come from the smaller kid and _shit_. Tao's eyes widened at the image of a scythe in the kid's hands, and the kid didn't pause as they raised it above their head and charged at hir.

The aura of the kid being chased –they were _bait_ \- lashed out as well, and Tao heard the other demon howl, followed by a wet splat. Hir whip flopped against a body that no longer had wings taking up extra space.

Tao didn't have to turn around to know the smaller kid was wielding a lance. Ze didn't have the _time_ to turn! Not when ze were caught in a pincer attack!

Tao jumped up, flapping hir wings for extra lift. At least humans hadn't been able to figure out how to do that, not without noisy machines. _Yet_. And from what ze knew of the Loyard and Landegre fighting styles, they wouldn't be able to reach hir in the ai-

"Demon!" someone roared _above_ Tao's head and it was only by sheer instinct that Tao rolled out of the way of the...

That wasn't possible.

Tao stared at the angel in front of hir. Silver hair, white robe, a golden sword in their hand that would have cleaved Tao in two if it had hit. Their wings were grey though, not an angel's white, nor a demon's black.

They weren't changing though, not like how Tao had when ze had first left Heaven and arrived in the physical realm. The angel shouldn't have been able to yell stuff out like that if they were mid-transformation.

"You won't harm these humans anymore!" The angel charged at hir again.

The situation had been bad enough with the Loyard and Landegre ganging up hir (though from what Tao remembered of their families, they tended to do that, and for good reason). An angel added to the mix? They needed to get away from everyone as fast as they could.

Tao summoned hir whip and the angel almost didn't dodge out the way as Tao cracked it in their face, far too intent on cutting them down.

A beat of wings after the angel swerved out the way and the angel was diving at hir again.

Dammit! That one-track would get them killed if they attacked other demons like that!

At the next charge, Tao grabbed the angel's sword with hir whip, yanking out of their hand. The sword disappeared as soon it left the angel's hand and Tao snatched a handful of the angel's robe, putting enough power there for a physical body to touch and _hold_ an incorporeal one.

The angel's eyes widened just before Tao slammed them into the wall, the windows around them rattling. The humans inside would just think it was the wind blowing, but when the angel didn't have a body to _feel_ , it wouldn't hurt them, only stun them.

"If you keep attacking a demon like that," Tao hissed, leaning in to make sure the angel heard every word, "you are _going to die_." And there was no way to drill that into the angel's head, not when they didn't even know what dying _was_ and only had the vague notion that it was something mortals did for some reason.

Tao froze at the crackle of power below them and threw the angel to the side as ze shoved themselves across the alley. Ze sucked in a breath at the wave of power that tore through where ze'd just been hovering. The Loyard kid was gazing up at hir as they span the scythe in their hands, their power building again.

Dammit, ze had to leave before one of their limbs was torn off by one of those, or worse.

Tao beat hir wings, flying higher as they stared at the angel.

They couldn't - but it wasn't as if the angel would listen to hir. That much was obvious.

Maybe they would listen to a Loyard and a Landegre.

Gritting hir teeth, Tao turned and fled, sweeping hir senses out to make sure there were no more attacks while hir back was turned.

Ze didn't want to leave the angel alone, but it was better this way. Ze would need to keep an eye on what happened though, just in case.

xOx

M-21 fisted their hands, wanting to chase the demon, but the demon had disappeared - they hadn't been able to track where the demon had went, not with their concentration frazzled at how the demon had been able to trap them with ease and with how the humans below had attacked the demon.

The humans...

M-21's gaze drifted down to the pair of humans and they drifted down, folding their wings once they reached the same level as them, their toes hovering above the ground. It was their job to protect humans, so they should make sure they were all right after being attacked.

They were unhurt, the smaller one kneeling by the body of the other demon's host (the lance they had summoned was gone) while the taller one looked...at them? M-21 shook their head. Mortals couldn't see angels.

"How are you?" the taller one asked, their eyes looking them over, their grip loose on their scythe.

They _could_ see them?

The taller one smiled, their gaze flicking up to the sky before settling on them again. "We're from the Loyard and Landgere families," they said, holding a hand to themself and then indicating the other with a sweep of their hand. Then they dipped their head. "Our lineage has been born with power to see demons that walk amongst us. You're the first angel we've heard come to our world."

That wasn't surprising, not when if an angel left Heaven, they changed into a demon. M-21 straightened their wings at the thought. They had a job to do and they had to make sure they did it.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" the Loyard asked, and M-21 paused.

"Stay?" They stayed in Heaven, but they couldn't do that until they returned home.

"While you're here," Loyard said as Landegre stood up and brushed their knees, walking to them afterwards.

"I don't have anywhere to stay," M-21 said, watching them both. Why would they ask?

Loyard smiled. "Then would you like to stay with us in the meantime?"

M-21 had to hunt down demons, but if demons were attacking this pair... They would need protection.

...Not that the pair had needed it, that much was clear. But it was better if they stayed close with the humans. "I thank you for your hospitality," M-21 said, bowing as they flared their wings out.

Loyard was still smiling when M-21 lifted their head again, while Landage's eyes were wide, their lips parted.

...? Was bowing surprising here?

"We should leave before the police arrive," Loyard said, their scythe flickering from view, and Landegre nodded. They looked at them and M-21 moved to follow. Once they saw that, the other two hurried away.

"I'm Seira," Loyard said and hm, humans had two names? Oh, if they were part of smaller families... They had to remember that. The three of them turned a corner, and the city looked different at ground level than in the air. It was brighter and more colourful. It was also louder, a constantly buzzing in the air. How did the humans seem to not hear it? Or did they not notice and only angels could sense it?

"Regis," Landegre said.

M-21 didn't say anything, making sure to remember the names and that they could say them the same way the pair had, taking everything they could of the city at the same time.

"...What do we call you?" Regis asked and M-21's thoughts stilled at the question.

"Whatever you want," they said, staring away from the pair. They needed to do well in their mission. Their Lord had created them just for this job and they warmed them at that fact. Once they had completed their mission, they would have earned the right to be given a name.

"Ah, all right." The pair glanced at each other, not saying anything and M-21 watched the city around them instead while they came to a decision.

"Would 'Angel' be okay?" Seira asked. "We're not sure what else to call you."

"It's what I am," M-21 said, their wings rustling as they shrugged. It was no different from their M-21 designation. "That's fine."

"Then we'll take you to where we live," Seira said.

xOx

Tao huffed as they paced the rooftop, throwing the sunset glances every so often. Ze had pulled hir hood up to protect hirself from the rain (hir wings could keep them in the air, but they weren't as efficient at protecting hir from the elements), but the drizzle had ended as soon as it started, snow starting to drift down instead.

With their senses extended, the Loyard and Landegre were gone, and so was the angel. So it had been a perfect trap - what demon could resist a meal that called out to them?

Ze had sensed Boss approaching from a while away and ze paced some more when Boss touched down on the rooftop with a soft splash.

"The weather is weird here," Tao grumbled, hands jammed into hir pockets. Hir clothes were enough to keep hir warm, but the weather didn't seem like it could make up its mind what it wanted to be, switching to something else after a few minutes.

Boss chuckled, walking over. Everything about Boss was just _bigger_ than Tao - they was taller than hir, their shoulder-length hair left unbound. Their wings were the same, the feathers ending in a thin point like they could be used as a weapon themselves. The dying sunlight made the purple streaks more obvious, almost hidden in Boss' black feathers. Boss' horns were ridged and curved like a ram's horns, curling around their ears and then winding outwards, while Tao's owns were smaller goat horns swept back over hir head, one black and one white .

"You'll get used it," Boss said, patting hir shoulder.

"Just in time for us to leave again," Tao said with a shake of hir head. Not that ze minded - the constant travel as Boss did lectures around the world kept them on the move and there always seemed to be a batch of demons wherever they went. Finding the source wasn't hard to track, but it was getting too diluted for Tao's liking, demons starting to change demons and passing on their power that way.

"Did you find anything yet?" Tao asked, rocking back and forth on their heels for something to do, still having too much energy from the previous fight.

Boss raised an eyebrow. "No, but I don't think that's important right now. You don't tend to be this restless. What happened?"

Tao sighed, hir shoulders slumping. "Yeah... I got caught in a Loyard and Landegre trap."

Boss' other eyebrow show up, and Boss looked him over, concern over their features. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I am. It was a little obvious but, well, I guess it's been a decade since we met a Loyard and Landegre pair, huh?" Tao quirked a grin at Boss but Boss' gaze was steady, still studying him.

"And what else happened?"


	2. Part 2

**Summary** : After leaving Heaven and turning into a demon, Tao was sure things had settled to some kind of normality. The angel coming down and not turning into a demon wasn't something Tao thought ze would ever see.

Angel/demon au written for nano!

ze/hir/hir for Tao's pronouns. Just to clarify - Tao, Frankenstein and M-21 are non-binary, and they use 'they' for other people until told otherwise.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Heh. With the amount of time they'd spent together, of course Boss knew something else had happened.

"I met an angel."

This time, Boss' other eyebrow shot up. "I see..."

"...Yeah," To said, rolling hir shoulders. "Is that possible?" Tao asked them. "I thought the barrier changed everything that passed through it?"

Boss frowned, tapping a finger to his chin. "It shouldn't be, but seeing how long it's been since I helped make it... Maybe the magic has begun to fray since then."

Unease crept into Tao's gut. If the barrier was starting to lose its power, then what did that mean for the ones who had helped make it?

Boss smiled at hir, patting hir shoulder again. "I'm fine, Tao."

Tao pursed hir lips and then nudged Boss in the chest with a shoulder, staying there. "Sure you are." There was a fine line when Boss looked after hir, and looked after hir to distract themself.

Boss' smile wavered before they peered at Tao, studying hir face. "And where are they now?"

"With a Loyard and Landegre," Tao told them. "I hope," ze muttered under hir breath. The feather-brain could have ran off trying to hunt demons like they had with Tao.

"Aah." Boss nodded. "It's the best place to be."

Tao sighed, watching hir breath swirl and then closed hir eyes, feeling Boss' hand pet hir head. Ze concentrated on that, just breathing.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Ze was lying and they both new it. Passing through the barrier and gaining a physical body had been a whirl of confusion and being overwhelmed by senses ze had never used before, but once ze'd gotten used it, ze had thought that was all ze had to get used to. But maybe the angel staying in that mid-form (unless they'd been created like that? Why?) helped them. If they could break away from their training as an angel. That was _painful_ to look at, at how easy they had been to read. That must have been the same for hir and Takeo.

"Hmm." Boss didn't stop stroking hir head. "I think having food inside you would also help - what do you think?"

A smile touched Tao's lips. "It wouldn't hurt."

xOx

M-21 looked around the living room Seira and Regis left them them. It was sparse in decoration after seeing all the shops, but there were a number of photographs framed on top of flat surfaces. M-21 had only looked at them briefly before looking elsewhere. What took up the room the most was books that lined shelves and while they looked interesting, M-21 didn't take any to read - they belonged to Seira and Regis, so they would leave them alone.

Mortals were strange. The pair were 'sleeping' and had said their bodied needed it every day, especially after being in a fight and using their power

There was nothing else to do, and Seira had told M-21 they would likely sleep for several hours, until the sun rose again. They glanced out the window at the dark sky. Heaven had never gone dark - there was constant light.

The demon was still out there. They had been able to chase the demon away, but what if they hurt humans until the next time M-21 saw them?

That was it. That was what they would do - they would hunt demons alone until Seira and Regis woke up again.

xOx

Tao dug into the food ze and Boss had bought, swinging hir legs on the bench they'd been able to grab before someone else had. It wasn't that often they ate out -Boss preferred cooking at home- but sometimes it was nice. There had been a couple of times they'd met other demons that way, their wings signalling to each other what the other was.

"It's been a while since we've met someone else like this, huh?" Tao said, leaning back on the bench to stare up at the clouds. It had to be centuries by now. All the demons they'd met since then had been created by another demon gifting a human some of their power and then _that_ human passing on their power until the link to the original demon was lost, the link had gotten so diluted.

Tao snapped hir head up at a crackle of power, and the angel was there, face twisted and sword in hand.

Dammit, angel, _no_. Fighting a demon with a Loyard and Landegre for back-up was one thing, but fighting _two_ demons by themself?

Dammit, if they'd been two different demons...

They had to be somewhere less public before the angel made a disturbance. With no-one else around, ze and Boss would be blamed for it and Tao had done enough of running from the police than ze wanted.

Tao dropped hir food and they flitted away to a small distance away. Far enough to get out of the way of the angel's attack, but close enough the angel could see where they'd gone.

The angel swerved into their new direction and Tao saw the scowl on their face before ze flitted away again.

It didn't take long to find a suitable rooftop and the angel hovered there when they caught up.

"Leave those hosts!" the angel demanded. "I don't want to harm them!"

Tao's eyebrows shot up. Was that what Heaven said about them now? It had been a couple of centuries, but didn't they know…?

Of course, if the angel hadn't transformed themselves and had just came from Heaven, it wasn't that surprising.

Tao sighed. "Boss, I'll take this one." One of them was more than enough for an angel who only had the training Heaven had given them. Two demons was plain overkill.

"I'll take you _both_ down." The words had hardly left the angel's mouth before they swooped towards them. "You won't run _this time_!"

Good. At least the angel know about pressing any advantages they could see. Though was a pre-fight speech part of training now?

"Try not to be _too_ harsh," Boss murmured as Tao leaped to meet the angel. Tao huffed at the remark, sliding past the angel's thrust and drew power to hir hands to slam the heel of hir palm into the angel's wrist, sending a jolt of lightning into them.

The angel dropped their sword with a yelp and Tao saw the sword's design before it disappeared. It was a little different from the one Tao used to wield - the hilt was bigger and fancier with a looped design etched into it that hadn't been there before. Was that what the angel had been given, or was it because they were different that the sword's form changed, echoing its user?

That was a question for another time and while the angel was still recovering from the hit (or expecting Tao to step back to let them summon their sword again, hah), Tao drove a knee into the angel's gut, spiking that with lightning too.

There was no accompanying whoosh of air Tao was used to, but ze grabbed the angel's robe and threw them down at the rooftop. The angel slammed into it and before the angel recovered, Tao landed into a crouch on their shoulders, pinning them there with hir power.

The angel struggled, their arms flailing, but couldn't budge hir. And Tao had found another advantage of having a physical body: it was way easier trapping someone who didn't know what weight _was_.

The angel glared up at hir, still trying to remove hir feet. " _How_?" the angel demanded, looking like they were about to bare their teeth.

"What?" Tao said, giving them a tight smile. "How did I beat you, or how am I pinning you down? You have to be a little clearer."

The angel punched hir leg and Tao protected hirself from the brunt of the blow with hir aura. It was a bit pathetic how helpless the angel was once something happened that they weren't prepared for. Tao ignored the tightness in hir chest and the memories that tried to surge with it.

" _Both_!"

"Demons adapt, angel," Tao said, prodding the angel in the stomach with the tip of hir tail to add insult to injury. Demons _had_ to learn how to adapt, from the moment they left Heaven and had to get used to the world around them and their new bodies. If they didn't, they died. "And we used to be angels, remember? We know everything you were taught." Unless whoever made them now had added things or changed it up, but it seemed like angels were taught the same things Tao had when ze'd been there.

The angel stopped moving, their eyes wide. Huh, was-

The angel's aura lashed out and Tao flitted away, landing in front of Boss. Just in time - the angel had summoned their sword again and slashed where Tao had been.

Tao couldn't help but grin in relief, wanting to clap as the angel swept themselves upright again, their sword pointed at hir. "That's better." There was some hope the angel _could_ change before something killed them.

Now, if ze could get the angel to stop _charging_ and projecting what they were going to do-

The angel disappeared.

"Huh..." Tao said, casting hir senses out, but there was nothing there. "They ran?" Nothing up in the sky or in the surrounding area either. That was interesting. From what Tao could tell, the angel wouldn't have been someone who had the _gall_ to run, but would have stayed and fought to the end. But then... Hm. Maybe the fight had been more helpful than Tao had thought. Now if the angel had gone back to Loyard and Landegre, that would be good.

"It seems like it..."

Tao turned around, not expecting the subdued answer from Boss. Their brows were furrowed, and their eyes distant.

"Boss? What's up?"

Boss' expression cleared and they shook their head. "For a brief second I thought I had recognised their aura."

Tao frowned, casting hir senses out again. Ze had been too distracted trying to make the angel realise the situation they were in to notice.

There were very few people that would make Boss react like that. "Did you think-"

Boss shook their head again. "No. I was mistaken."

Boss wasn't mistaken often and Tao hummed, trying to peer through the falling snow. The angel _did_ have Muzaka's colouration and how they reacted to a few things - Tao could see how there could be a connection between them. But the angel had just come through from Heaven and had been created recently by the looks of it. Then again, _anyone_ would look like that if they only knew what Heaven had taught them.

"So that was the angel you met," Boss said.

Tao huffed, nodding as ze slipped hir hands into hir pockets again. Ze'd warmed up in the fight, but it wouldn't be long until ze cooled down again. "I don't think there are any other angels out there."

But still. Ze had thought nothing could pass through the barrier without changing and ze was wrong about that. There could be more angels in the physical realm than Tao thought.

"I suppose the only thing we can do at the moment is keep an eye on them," Boss said.

"I think they'll be keeping an eye on _us_ " Tao said, shaking hir head, though ze was smiling too. Either way, it meant they would know what was happening with the angel.

Boss chuckled and then patted hir shoulder. "We should get back to our dinner."

"Yeah." Though Tao wouldn't be surprised if something had eaten it already.

xOx

M-21 couldn't think. Their thoughts stuttered and circled to the same one no matter what they did.

Their mission was to kill as many demons as they could and they couldn't beat _one_. The blond demon hadn't even needed to step in.

Not only that, they had _ran away_ from the fight. They should have stood their ground and taken down at least one, even it meant killing the host.

But...they wouldn't have succeeded. The black-haired demon had proven that. The demon hadn't been _trying_! They hadn't even brought out their weapon and the fight had been over as soon as it had begun.

They'd had to run. They couldn't have stayed. If they had... That fight hadn't been the same as a spar with M-24, where if one of them lost, they could pick up the other and start all over again.

If the demon had wanted it, M-21 would have ceased to exist. Died.

But the demon hadn't, seeming _pleased_ when they had fought back at the end. Why? Why would the demon be happy about that? Because the demon had wanted a _good_ fight?

M-21 needed someone else with them in case something went wrong. Which it already had. M-21 didn't want to do what the demons had done, but...it made sense.

If they'd been in Heaven, they could have counted on M-24. This was their first time they had been seperated from each other, and M-24 was the batchmate they'd stayed with the longest, the rest of their batchmates been given things to do by their Lord.

There was an odd throb in their chest, stronger than when they thought of their other batchmates, but they could do this. They would complete their mission and then return home.

They were still connected with their Lord and M-21 drew strength from the knowledge it was there. They couldn't communicate with their Lord, not in the physical realm, but it was a constant reminder that their Lord was there.

And hm, it wasn't just demons that paired up together, but humans too. Seira and Regis had known how to fight demons, so maybe they could ask them for information.

M-21 looked around. If they remembered right, Seira and Regis lived in _that_ direction...

xOx

M-21 stared at Seira's door and then phased through it. They were lying under some blankets with their eyes closed. Were they 'sleeping'?

But how were they supposed to make them stop sleeping, and Seira and Regis had said rest was important for them. So...

"What is it, Angel?" Seira murmured, their eyes fluttering open.

"Ah..." M-21 glanced away, unsure. "I apologise for interrupting your sleep. I shouldn't have. I'll-"

"It's fine," Seira said, sitting up again and rubbing at an eye. " Is there something wrong?"

There was a lot wrong. And M-21 wasn't sure if they would be able to fix it. "I'm failing my mission," M-21 said, their words softer than they thought they would be.

Siera made a soft noise and when M-21 looked at them, their brows were drawn in a little. "Did you leave to fight demons?"

"Yes. I...had thought that since I'd driven the other demon away, I would be able to fight demons while you slept." Now they knew it wasn't because of them, but because of Seira and Regis, as well as their superior numbers.

"And it didn't go well."

"No. I don't know why, but the demon let me live."

"Some like playing with their prey before eating them," Seira said.

Had they been? It didn't seem like - well, yes, the demon _had_ been playing with them in that fight, mocking them. Was that what the demon had been trying to do? Make them doubt? But the demon had been right...

"Would you be able to give me some of your information on how you fight demons?" Seira had to know things M-21 didn't.

Seira smiled, nodding as the moved to get out of their bed. "I would be happy to teach you."

"Wait, you don't have to get out of bed," M-21 said, drawing back. Rest was important to them and they'd already interrupted it. "...Teach?" What was that?

"I'll be fine," Seira said. And then they blinked, their eyebrows drawing in a little. "How do you learn something in Heaven?"

"Our Lord gives us the information They think we need and then we know it."

"You...know it," Seira repeated. "How does your Lord give you the information?"

"Through the connection we share." M-21 looked at them. "That isn't how you do it?"

This time a small smile curved Seira's lips. "No," they said, shaking their head. "We have to pass it on through different ways like...talking or reading, and it can take us a long time for us to remember it well."

Oh. "That...sounds like it takes a lot longer."

"It does, compared to how you do it, but if you still want to do it, I'm willing to teach you."

M-21 bowed. "Thank you."

xOx

Seira had made her bed and after they the two of them had gone to living room. M-21 watched Seira as they made a hot drink for themselves. The wisps of steam as they raised from the cup were interesting to watch as well.

"Why do you want to learn how to fight demons?" Seira asked as they sat down at with their cup.

"Because I don't know how to," M-21 admitted, staring at the tabletop as they hovered next to it. They thought they were ready, but they weren't.

"Ah," Seira said. They curled their fingers around their cup, not moving to drink from it yet. "I suppose I should start at the basics, and you can correct me if what you know is different."

"I don't think that's a good idea," M-21 said, hovering in small circles. "I don't think anything I know is right."

Seira tapped a finger on their cup. "Then we can talk about it and try to work out if we can figure out which is true and which isn't."

"...Okay." That sounded like that could work.

"As for how Regis and I can fight demons, our ancestors say our families were chosen to look after humanity, that God had given our families the power of angels to fight demons." Seira was watching them, hands wrapped around their cup again.

* * *

When the heck does M-21 learn seira and regis' genders... If it doesn't come up in the next part, there'll have been some off camera correction and M-21 starts using he and her for them.

I almost forgot rooftops were a reasonable place to fight, pfft.

I realise I didn't describe demons having tails at all in the first part, but the description section had been getting long by that point, haha.


	3. Part 3

**Summary** : After leaving Heaven and turning into a demon, Tao was sure things had settled to some kind of normality. The angel coming down and not turning into a demon wasn't something Tao thought ze would ever see.

I realised I'd skipped around and messed something up in the previous part, so I changed the ending of it.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Would their Lord do that? M-21 had thought that anyone who left Heaven would be turned into a demon, but their Lord was the _Lord_ and since They had created the barrier that separated Heaven from the physical realm, maybe They could travel without changing. And Seira and Regis's power felt different from any that M-21 had felt, but their Lord could have given different powers that felt different from the ones M-21 knew. They didn't know anyone would couldn't summon a physical weapon to their hand, so that could be it.

M-21 didn't say anything to that comment.

Seira peered at them. "You're not offended by that assumption?"

M-21 tilted their head. "Why would I be? If my Lord had decided to that, it's Their decision." M-21 was only an angel who did what they were told.

Seira nodded and then closed their eyes. "We don't know for definite where demons came from," Seira said. "Humans have a lot of different stories about how demons are formed, but our family doesn't know for sure why demons are made." They swept a hand out. "Humans getting rid of their humanity, making deals with demons, or fallen angels are a few of the common ones."

M-21 nodded. "It's the last one." And the demon had confirmed that with them, so they knew _that_ was true. "When an angel leaves Heaven and arrives at the physical realm, they're turned into a demon. It's their punishment for turning their back on their Lord. Muzaka was the first angel to lead the angels astray, making the first demons." And Muzaka was out there somewhere, still continuing to make demons.

Seira's brow furrowed as they looked at him. " _All_ angels?"

M-21 dipped their head. "I'm different," they said, realising what they were asking. "I was specifically created to come here and fight demons without changing." But the mission... They closed their eyes and tried to relax their thoughts. They were doing what they could to fix that, so that they could fight demons better.

…But shouldn't they have known how to fight demons from the start?

"By yourself?" Seira asked. There was a small crease between their brows as they frowned.

"My Lord trusts me with this task." Their batchmates had already been chosen for other duties and had been doing well in them. It was their turn to help their Lord. M-21 played with their sleeve, rubbing their mark with a thumb. It was a comfort to do, a reminder of where they came from.

A creak behind them. "What's that?" It was Regis, staring at M-21's hands. At their mark. "That tattoo..."

Is that what they called it here? "It's the mark of the batch I was made in."

"May I see it?" Seira asked, leaning over the table as they tried to get a better look at the mark.

M-21 nodded and turned their wrist over, pulling the sleeve of their robe back. It was a diamond shape that was open on the point pointing up their arm, scored with lines at the wrist. Inside it was their designation '21', but the two shouldn't know what that meant so they felt okay showing them it.

Seira shared a sharp glance with Regis. "Are they always that shape?" Seira asked.

Was their mark that interesting to them? M-21 had seen a number of other humans with similar marks along their skin, some that took up their entire arm. Didn't humans do the same? "No," M-21 said, shaking their head. "It changes depending on when we were made and what batch. Each batch has its their own unique symbol on their wrist."

"How different?" Regis asked, sitting down next to M-21 and staring at the mark, frowning. Regis looked up at M-21, and they moved closer to the human, letting them see it. Regis began tracing out the shape on the tabletop with their finger, their mouth moving as they muttered something under their breath.

"Circles or squares," M-21 said, watching Regis do that. "Something that can be easily seen at a glance." A small smile flickered at on their lips as their core warmed. "Ours is the first to have lines running along the top."

Regis' hand stopped, and they sucked in a breath.

"...What's wrong?" The two had been acting strange ever since they'd seen their mark. Why?

"Angel," Seira said, and M-21 turned their attention back to them again, "we recognise that tattoo. Not the part inside it, because that always changes, but we've seen that before."

M-21 beamed at the news, fluttering to her side. "You've met some of my batchmates? How are they-" Wait. That couldn't be right. "But...you're mortals." Humans. Who lived in the physical realm. They couldn't have met their batchmates, not when their batchmates were in Heaven.

"Yes," Seira said, and they set their cup down with a soft clunk. "The demon we had fought when we first met had a similar marking on his wrist."

"No." M-21 backed away, shaking their head. "My batchmates wouldn't betray our Lord. They wouldn't turn their backs on Heaven." They had been created to serve their Lord - what was greater than fulfilling the purpose of their creation?

"Do you recognise this?" Regis asked, and they were at one of the shelves, pulling out a piece of paper and pen. They came back and started drawing on it.

M-21 frowned when they saw the shape Regis was making. A star. It wasn't quite right, there were too many points, but they recognised it as one of the marks of a batch a few generations before them. The number Regis wrote in the centre was still recognisable as '85' to M-21. Humans didn't use the same language as Heaven did; Regis shouldn't have been able to make that without seeing it with their own eyes.

"I do..." M-21 said, hovering closer as Regis nodded and started sketching again, this time of M-21's mark. Regis wasn't looking at M-21, only the piece of paper and the number inside... 60. That couldn't be-

M-21 wanted to back away, but they wanted to stay close, to _make sure_. It couldn't be right. Regis couldn't have seen that. M-60 had been one of the last of M-21's batchmates to be chosen to do their duty for their Lord before M-21.

"They wouldn't do that," M-21 said, shaking their head, trying to force the words out their mouth. M-60 had been getting anxious, their wings constantly fluffed up when their Lord hadn't chosen them for a task yet. When they had finally been called to Their side... "They wouldn't betray our Lord like that!" M-60 wouldn't have run after all that time spent waiting!

"Angel..." Seira said, drawing their attention back to them. "Do you remember when we first met, what the demon looked like?"

Why would they need to ask that question? "Black hair with long straight horns-" But Seira was shaking their head.

"I meant the other demon."

Oh. "I...hadn't looked too closely," M-21 admitted. They had been too focused on the demon that had gotten away than the demon Regis had killed. They only time they'd looked at the body of the host was...

M-21 frowned. The body had been facing away but without the black wings obscuring their view... The host had had light brown shoulder-length hair. Just like M-50's. "No." The demon's host had looked like M-50. That was - that couldn't be true!

The only other reason would be if their Lord had been sending angels through on purpose. That couldn't be true either. If M-21 had been created specifically to pass through the barrier to not change into a demon, then there should have been no need for their Lord to send other angels.

"Hmm," Seira said. "There's a chance we could be mistaken," they said, sharing a glance with Regis. "Maybe the demon had put on a different mark onto their body to lay the blame on someone else."

But why would they do that? No-one else would find them apart from other demons. And that didn't explain why someone who had looked like one of M-21's batchmates had been here.

Seira closed their eyes, exhaling. "We'll look for other demons tomorrow," they said. "To make sure - this wouldn't be the first time someone has tried to trick our families."

M-21 nodded. This time, they would wait for Seira and Regis to wake before trying to find more demons.

xOx

Tao woke up with a jolt, feeling a hand on hir shoulder. Ze snapped a hand out but froze at the warm familiar aura surrounding hir.

The dregs of hir nightmare whirled in hir head as ze screwed hir eyes shut and flopped back to bed. It had been centuries since _that_ had happened, but Tao could still see it happen so clearly in hir mind.

"Thanks," ze murmured, petting Boss' hand. "Just bad memories." Like every other time ze'd had a nightmare.

Boss squeezed hir shoulder in response and then sat down next to hir. "Which wasn't your fault."

"If we'd-" Tao started, then stopped, shaking hir head. It was in the past, and ze couldn't change it, even when they had magic. And if the two of them hadn't been caught in that situation, they would have been caught in something else. And that had probably been what exactly what had happened.

"I need to find them," Tao said, sitting up. Ze had to make sure, had to _know_ where the angel was.

"I have a few lectures today, so I'll be staying behind at the university," Boss said, standing up. "Be careful."

"Always." Tao gave them a quick hug, tucking hir wings into Boss', and then went to get changed.

xOx

But how were they supposed to find the angel? Tao crouched over a building rooftop, watching the cars crawl by under hir. From that distance it would have been too hard to see _anything_ , especially when everyone was so bundled up against the chill that something that looked like a pair of wings to Tao could have been a large coat or a very flappy scarf.

Demons tended to announce themselves when using their powers, but the angel wasn't one, and if the angel _was_ using their powers, Tao didn't want it because that meant the angel was in a fight.

Their other best bet was trying to track down Loyard and Landegre, but that had its own problems. A demon walking up to a pair of demon hunters? They would have attacked hir long before Tao had had a chance to speak.

But it still meant a better chance of finding the angel, or had an idea of where the angel had gone.

So, if they were a Loyard and a Landegre, where would they go...

xOx

Humans were far more pressed into each other during the daytime. Even without a physical body, M-21 could feel the sense of bodies packed into the shop. Heaven wasn't like that. No-one would touch each other - there was always an area of space around each other at all times.

And. No-one else could see them.

They'd known that. Had known they would be alone when they reached the physical realm, but knowing they would be alone was one thing, but it was different when people looked at them but didn't see them. At one point a hand had passed through M-21 when the human had reached over to get something from the shelf.

They'd hovered above everyone after that to stay out the way and while some humans glanced in their direction but no more than that. Just something in the corner of their eyes.

Seira couldn't talk to them during work either, not without drawing strange looks and. M-21 didn't want to do this anymore. It hadn't been so obvious while they'd been with Seira and Regis, but they needed to go somewhere where it wasn't so obvious that they were something that didn't exist to other people in this realm.

Seira had murmured to be careful and not stray too far.

M-21 had nodded, flying through the wall and then drifted upwards again. They would stay on the rooftop and that was it.

It was strange. The physical realm was so different from their own, so colourful, so _loud_ , but they were missing something, feeling only like an observer rather than being with them in the realm.

It would be fine. When they completed their mission they could return home and be surrounded by what they were used to. They would be back where they belonged.

M-21 hovered by a building rooftop, watching the clouds forming above their head.

"So it _is_ you."

M-21 recognised the voice and whirled around. What-? A demon stood on the rooftop behind M-21, their black wings half curled around their body like they were using them as a shield. The demon was pressing a hand to their forehead close to their horns, their short blond hair bunched up under their fingers. But even with the wings and horns, M-21 still knew that face. "M-09?" Tightness drew inside M-21 again. It had been true. Seira and Regis had been seeing their batchmates here.

"Hah," M-09 said, a smile on twisting their lips. "So you can still recognise me like this."


	4. Part 4

**Summary** : After leaving Heaven and turning into a demon, Tao was sure things had settled to some kind of normality. The angel coming down and not turning into a demon wasn't something Tao thought ze would ever see.

Warnings: Side-character death.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"Of course I..." M-21 trailed off, dropping their gaze. They could recognise M-09, but they hadn't even looked at M-60. "What-" They couldn't get the words out their mouth. They wanted to know, but were scared of finding out what the answer was. "What are you doing here?" As a demon, and it only looked like M-09 had changed their wings and gained a set of horns and a tail. The rest of their body was the same as M-21 knew them.

Anger flashed across M-09's features as they narrowed their eyes and lifted their lip up in a sneer. "Why are _you_ here, M-21?" Their tail lashed, acting like a whip. "Still looking like _that_?"

M-21 wasn't supposed to tell the demons anything aside from they were to be their death, but this was a _batchmate_. "I was-"

"-created for this job," M-09 finished, their hands curled up into fists. "'I was created so I wouldn't change when I passed through the barrier.'" Their voice was mocking. Bitter.

"How did you..." M-09 had been called to serve their Lord long before M-21 had; M-09 shouldn't have known what the Lord had told them. M-21 hadn't told _anyone_ what their Lord had told them, hadn't had the chance to before they'd stood before the barrier and had to walk through it.

"How do you _think_ , M-21?" M-09 flared their wings out, starting to shake. They were gripping their head harder, their breathing going harsher. "I was told the same thing!"

No. "But the Lord-"

"Said I was the _only_ one They'd created, right? Why do you think I'm here?" M-09 glared at them. " _This_ was the task They gave us!"

If the Lord had had given M-09 the same mission. If - not if, _when_ M-09 changed into a demon… Why was M-21 different? They'd been told they'd been created to pass through the barrier without incident, but so had M-09. And the others...

"The Lord abandoned me, M-21!" M-09's voice was raising until they were shouting. "Abandoned us!"

"They - They wouldn't-" M-21 couldn't doubt their Lord. They were they _Lord_. There had to be a reason why They were doing this.

M-09's face twisted into a snarl. "They sent us here to become demons!"

That couldn't be the reason. _Couldn't_ be, but M-21's core was twisting at the news, the bits of information they had been finding out falling into place.

"How many of our brethren have you seen here already? Our batchmates?"

M-21 didn't say anything, their wings trembling.

"Didn't you ever wonder why you never saw us again?" M-09 roared.

"You'd been given a task by our Lord," M-21 said, and there was an almost growl from M-09. "We thought you were busy."

"You thought we were _busy_? Hah!" M-09 starting pacing. "You thought we wouldn't think to come visit you again? We were _batchmates_. If your task had been in Heaven," M-09 said, jabbing a finger in their direction, "would you have forgotten us so easily?"

No. Never. They would have taken any chance however small they had to flit over to their batchmates to check on them. They hadn't forgotten them while they'd been in the physical realm either.

They had thought the others were happy with their Lord given task and hadn't wanted to disturb them.

"Why are you so lucky to not change? To not lose-" M-09 cut themselves off, their lips twists. They flapped their wings, and that had always been the signal M-09 was about to start a spar. "I'll turn you, and then you'll see." See what? And.. turn? The air crackled as M-09 unfurled their aura. "Then you'l know what we went through!"

M-21 summoned their sword, holding it ready even though M-09 hadn't summoned theirs.

M-09 disappeared.

M-21 paused, keeping their sword just in case. Why say that and then flit awa -

Magic buzzed at their back, and M-21 was too slow to whirl around.

Between one second and the next, M-21 found themself shoved to the side, an arm tingling. The air crackled with power and - it was the demon from before, the one who'd tried to get them to fight properly.

"No!" M-09 howled. "Let me change them! Fight with me, not against me!"

"I'm not one of your contracts, ass!" the other demon yelled, and there was the whip in the demon's hands. M-21 hadn't noticed it before, too distracted with the demon to notice it didn't just have one tip but multiple, each crackling with purple lightning.

That demon was still facing M-09. They raised their arm up to strike and _no_. M-21 couldn't allow that. M-09 may have turned into a demon, but they were still M-21's batchmate.

The demon's head snapped around as M-21 lunged at them, not thinking to even summon their sword. There was _no time_ to. M-21 caught them enough by surprise to make them stumble.

"Ang - shit!" The demon jerked and M-21 scrambled back as M-09 yanked their sword out. M-09 threw the demon away, turning to M-21 again. M-21 flapped, backing away.

Their mission was to kill demons, but M-09 was a batchmate. They couldn't just kill a batchmate with no thought!

Power was building in M-09's hands, but M-21 couldn't move to defend themself. They didn't _want_ to.

Was this what their Lord had been trying to do? Turn Their angels into demons so they would fight each other? _Why_?

Their Lord couldn't see what was going on - but the connection they had with their Lord...

M-21 couldn't talk to their Lord through the connection, but what if their Lord could see things that M-21 could?

M-09 disappeared and M-21 knew they would appear behind them next but they didn't want to fight, didn't want to defend themself.

Except M-09 appeared right in front of them. M-21 saw them for a second and then the demon's whip wrapped around M-09's throat before they were yanked back.

A snap cracked through the air and M-09's wings faded from view as they thudded to the ground.

M-21 couldn't move, only stare at the body.

M-09's eyes were staring up at the sky, their face slack. From under M-09's sleeve, their mark poked out on their wrist. That had been M-09's body. If that had just been a host, M-09 should have left it when the body died.

But they hadn't.

"Why did you kill them?" M-21 tried to demand the demon, their voice wavering.

"Angel, I thought you said you were trying to kill demons?" the demon asked, pressing a hand to their side. Blood was spreading out from the wound M-09 had given them. "Me killing a demon should make your job easier, right? Unless you don't want anyone else doing your job for you."

"I didn't want you to kill _them_!" They weren't going to see M-09 again, wouldn't see any of their other batchmates that had been sent here? …Had _all_ of them been sent here?

The demon frowned and unsummoned their whip, watching them. "You were going to let them kill you?"

"They were my batchmate!" M-21 couldn't think, knew it was a bad idea, but they had to do _something_ , direct the wild fire on their chest. They summoned their sword-

The world whirled, their body tingling from the familiar lightning attack.

This time, the demon pressed a hand to their collarbone, pressing them to the rooftop. "So they left Heaven. If that's what they decided-"

"They didn't decide to!" M-21 cut them off. "Our Lord ordered us here." They tried to summon their sword.

Another blast of magic from the demon made them lose their concentration, their sword slipping through their fingers.

"Stop trying to attack me," the demon said, their lips pursed. "I didn't come here to hurt you."

"You came here to kill my batchmate!"

Something flickered across the demon's face, too fast for M-21 to identify.

"I came running because I sensed a fight going on." The demon sighed. "You should stop running away from Loyard and Landegre."

"Didn't run," M-21 said, their eyes drawn to the redness slipping through the demon's fingers. Some dripped out, falling through them and hitting the rooftop. "Seira's downstairs."

"Then _stay_ with them, angel," the demon murmured, giving them a small push. Why did the demon seem _worried_? Their batchmate had tried to kill them and a demon was looking out for them. When had everything stopped making sense in M-21's world? "They know what they're doing." Far more than M-21 did.

"Okay." And now they were taking orders from a demon instead of their Lord. At this rate, M-21 _would_ turn into a demon.

The demon nodded and then went over to M-09's side.

"…What are you doing," M-21 asked, watching them, but not getting closer.

"You said one of them's downstairs. A dead body discovered here brings people who want to know how it happened." The demon reached out with their unbloodied hand and closed M-09's eyes. "It's better they're not found here." Then they lifted their head, looking at M-21.

"Do you want to say goodbye?"

M-21 gave them a blank look.

"It's…a tradition in some places here. Telling someone who'd died your last thoughts or feelings one way or another. It helps give a bit of closure to the person, might help them feel a little bit better."

Make them feel better. How was that supposed to help when everything M-21 knew was wrong, that they'd just sat by while the rest of their batchmates had been forced to turn into demons? That their Lord had lied to them?

"I don't think it will," M-21 said, turning away and flying back to where Seira was.

The only thing left that was constant in M-21's world was the connection they had with their Lord, and that felt more like a sleeping beast now, ready to take their mind apart at any moment, than a comfort.

xOx

Tao winced as they cleaned up the wound the demon had given hir. It felt worse than it looked, which was good in some ways, but it still _hurt_.

Ze looked up at the door opening and gave a weak smile to Boss.

"You call this an 'accident'," Boss said, shrugging off their jacket and draping it over the back of a chair before going over to inspect the damage. There had been too many incidents where they'd had to help each other back to where they were staying, trying to not leave a stain all over the floor.

"That was over a text, and I didn't try get in the way of a sword _intentionally_ , you know? The angel surprised me."

Boss sent hir a sharp glance and then focused on the wound again, brushing their fingers close to it.

"The angel was in a fight when I found them," Tao said as Boss opened up their first aid kit. "Turns out the angel didn't want me to kill them."

"I assume the other demon didn't quite feel the same, seeing the state you're in," Boss muttered, pulling out the tools he needed. "How deep?"

"Not much." Ze'd been able to block most of the blow, just not all. "It would have been nice if we _did_ have healing powers," Tao grumbled, preparing for Boss to start sewing hir up. "It would make this a _lot_ easier."

"It's a good thing our bodies are more durable than most, or else you wouldn't be talking right now. Now hold still."

Tao concentrated on other things, staring across the kitchen. "There's something weird going on, Boss."

"Like you jumping into a fight? And worrying me?"

Tao couldn't swat at Boss like ze would have normally done, so ze flapped hir wings instead since that didn't make hir tense hir muscles. "They were in trouble!" Tao sighed. "The angel knew the demon, said they were batchmates." Like Tao and Takeo. "That their Lord had ordered them over here."

Boss paused. "I don't suppose they said who their Lord was?"

"They were a little distracted," Tao said, hearing Boss snip at the suture. By a _lot_ of things.

"Of course." Frankenstein hummed, looking over their work. "It's more important to find out _why_ Heaven is doing there. There's no reason for them to, unless something's changed since we were there."

"It _has_ been a couple of millennia," Tao said, breathing out as Boss stood up. "Thanks."

Boss nodded, brushing their wing to Tao's, since their hands were bloody. "It's still a worrying change of events." Boss straightened, and went to the sink to clean up everything they'd used.

"Mm."

Boss looked at hir over their shoulder, frowning. "If both of you were attacked..."

"The angel's alive."

Boss raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"I made sure they went back to the Loyard." Tao moved to rub the back of hir neck, but stopped, wincing at the sudden movement. "I would have stayed but, well." It was risky trying to stick close and watch the angel when there was a demon hunter _right there_ next to them. Hir presence would cause problem in itself and ze needed to look after hirself too.

Their hands clean, Boss came over again, and gave hir a gentle hug.

Tao exhaled in an exploding breath, wrapping their arms around Boss and clung to them, just needing the feel of a warm body near them again, hearing and feeling Boss's heart thrum through their skin.

"You're to stay in bed," Boss said into Tao's hair.

"Yes, Boss." No moving unless ze absolutely had to. Ze knew the rules, on the occasions Tao hadn't been quite so lucky in a fight. Or the other way around. It _did_ mean breakfast in bed, which was nice.

It _would_ be nice to conk out in bed after everything that had happened though.

xOx

M-21 was numb. Couldn't feel a thing as they followed Seira home.

Seira had pretended that she wasn't feeling that well, and that was another problem they had made with Seira and Regis. Now had forced Seira to lie to her boss.

What was going on? Was everything they knew a lie? Who could they trust? Their Lord? Their batchmates? Or the demons?

"What happened?" Regis said, rushing over to them as they were entering Seira and Regis' home. "I'd sensed a lot of energy." Regis checked them both over and then started to walk in line with them.

"We're fine," Seira told him. "Our friend got into a fight."

This time Regis sent them a sharp look, and M-21 felt another pang as they continued to follow. The two couldn't even talk in public about them, that was the extent of their isolation.


	5. Part 5

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

Finally changed the summary, though I'll keep tweaking it.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"You felt the energies," M-21 said as Seira closed the door behind them, looking at Regis, "and wanted to check on us?"

Regis arched an eyebrow at them, tilting his head a little. "Of course. I got Seira's text, but I was still worried about both you."

M-21 drooped their wings, looking away. Why hadn't they been the same? But when someone was given a mission by their Lord, it was a privilege, something that they all longed to do. There was no need to check what had happened after, because the rest of them were waiting for their own turn to help their Lord to be useful and do what they were created for.

But they'd been wrong all this time.

"Angel?" Seira said, watching them as Regis made some hot drinks.

"You were right," M-21 murmured, hovering around the table. "The demons you had seen, they must have been my batchmates, and other angels." But _why_ they'd been in the physical realm, M-21 didn't know yet. If their batchmates and all the other angels had been sent by their Lord.

"I'm sorry," Seira said, dipping her head. Regis had finished making the drinks and set down one mug in front of Seira, keeping one of himself.

M-21 looked between both of them, puzzled. "It's not your fault."

...But then, if it wasn't Seira and Regis' fault, then whose fault was it? Was it their batchmates? It couldn't have been, not if they were ordered to do this, like M-21 had been. They would have had to choose between being loyal to their Lord or turning into a demon. Not that their batchmates would have known, thinking that they had been specifically created for the job. Walking straight though the barrier without a worry, because they had trusted their Lord.

And what had that gotten them? Changed into a demon, being cut off from Heaven, or having to fight their other batchmates, other angels that might not have been left Heaven of their own will.

Then why did angels turn into demons? Why was it a punishment to leave Heaven, and why did their Lord change angels into demons if they could control what happened to their creations, had created the barrier?

There had to be a reason for this. But this was the _Lord_ they were trying to make sense of. Their creator - who were they to question what They did? All M-21 was created for was to follow Their orders. And how could they know what their Lord was planning? They should trust their Lord in whatever plan They had.

Was what M-21 had been taught, had always known their entire life.

But after everything had happened in the physical realm, they couldn't just accept what had happened now, couldn't just think that it was part of their Lord's plan for them. Because what was it _for_? What reason was there to make everyone fight each other?

There had to be something they weren't seeing, something they didn't understand.

"I have to talk with the demons," M-21 said, lifting their head. They were the only other people they could talk to, who _could_ know what was going on. Those demons were older than them, had been around far longer than M-21 had; they had to know more about the barrier. "The ones that had talked to me before."

"It sounds like they're able to think," Regis said, his words slow.

"They do," M-21 said, puzzled by his words, and tone. Why did he sound suspicious?

"Just be careful," Seira said. "Because they can think and talk with you, that makes them more dangerous. It could be a trap."

"I know." But in all the times M-21 had met that other demon, the other demon hadn't tried to kill them. "But they had the chance to hurt me and didn't." Only hurting them to stop them when M-21 had tried to kill them. M-21 looked away. "They protected me just now." And they hadn't thanked them. M-21 looked up again. "I have to know."

But how could they get in contact with them? The demon had said they'd come running because they'd felt the fight.

Seira and Regis shared a look together, and then nodded.

"We might be able to call them out," Regis said.

"Along with every other demon in the city," Seira warned. "That demon thinks – they'll know we use our aura as a trap. So we might have to call nearly all of the demons in the city to us before they realise this is for them. Are you sure you want to do this?"

M-21 was about to nod but then hesitated. "Are you all right with this?" M-21 wasn't the only people involved here, and if they were calling _all_ the demons in the city to them, then Seira and Regis would be in danger as well.

"We are," Regis said, intertwining his fingers as he leaned on the table, "or else we wouldn't be offering to do this."

M-21 nodded, trying to think it over again. They wanted to meet the demon again, but this was the only way for them to contact them. But if the demon didn't come, Seira and Regis could be fighting for nothing, could be hurt for nothing. Because of them. Could they allow that to happen? They were an angel - it was their job to protect humans.

Just like it was their job to follow their Lord's orders.

"We have made our choice, Angel," Seira said. "Don't worry about us and choose."

Were they that obvious? How did everyone seem to know more than them?

M-21 didn't want Seira and Regis hurt, but they were they strong enough to protect them? They had proven they had failed easily already, and the demon had gotten hurt because of them as well.

"I want to do it." M-21 nodded. If they were to do this, they would do it. They _had_ to know. This time, even if they were attacked by their batchmates, they wouldn't hold back.

Seira nodded. "We're going to need a place that's open. It might take us a while to get there." Seira smiled at them. "We can't fly from place to place like you can."

M-21 looked between Seira and Regis. "I might be able to take you there, if I know where it is."

Seira frowned. "You can carry us? I thought you couldn't touch us?"

M-21 shook their head, a small smile quirking their lips. "If I can concentrate, I think I can touch you." It was the reverse of what the demon had done to them. "And I won't be carrying you. I can flit you over to a place, so long as I know where to go. Or try to." They had only every moved another angel through; they'd never tried a person with a physical body before.

"Do you want to try?" Seira asked, holding her mug out.

M-21 nodded and concentrated their aura, remembering what the demon had done when they'd touched. They frowned, their hands tingling. That should be enough. M-21 reached their hand towards the cup.

Their hand didn't go through it, the cup resisting their hand, like they'd come up against a shield. It was strange in their hands, and this was what humans felt all the time?

Now they had to try and flit with it.

They concentrated again again, and thought of the other side of the room like they always did when they flitted. All they needed was the knowledge of somewhere they'd been before and they could travel there with a thought.

And then they were there, one the other side of the room, the cup in their hand. They'd done-!

The cup slipped from their fingertips, crashing to the floor.

The sound made them flap their wings. "Sorry." They should have realised that would happen – they had seen how humans held things.

Seira smiled, waving them off as M-21 drew on their power to try and pick up the cup again. "It's fine – it was empty, and now we know you can do it."

M-21 nodded. "…I think I'll still flit you one at a time." It would be safer that way.

xOx

Tao raised an eyebrow as ze glanced in the direction of the power ze could sense. That was...strange. It was almost like... It _was_ and Tao exhaled, trying to ignore it. If Loyard and Landegre were laying another trap, ze would leave them to it. They'd learned from the last time. Though if the angel was with them…

Minutes ticked by and the sense of power didn't stop.

Why weren't they stopping? A demon would have found them by now. In fact, the fight should have finished already.

But then… Tao tapped hir finger on hir bed. Before Landegre had been attacked, they'd stopped pretending to leak out power – it would be bad if too many demons attacked at once. Were they still broadcasting while they were fighting? It didn't make sense. Unless…

An uneasy dread filled Tao's stomach as ze continued to wait and nothing happened, the call continuing to pulse.

It was like they were trying to call all the demons in the city. And it was too obvious. Tao should leave it be. Except with how long they were going and how it wasn't stopping...

It was more obvious than last time and yeah. Maybe it _was_ a signal for them.

Tao bite hir lip, fidgeting with hir blanket. Ze had told Boss ze would stay in bed, and Tao would do just that. Ze wouldn't go out straight into a fight ze would _know_ would walk straight into.

Tao reached over and grabbed hir phone, wincing as ze pulled at some of hir stitches. They didn't break and Tao exhaled as ze lay back down into hir bed.

[Hey, Boss, I'm sure you can hear that call,] Tao wrote and hummed, the call still tapping at hir senses. [I think we should answer.] Before they died.

There was a difference between taking on a demon one by one, and trying to call _all_ the demons in the city to them. That was the only reason why Tao could think of that they would continue doing that.

It didn't take long for Boss to answer. [I'll see to it. You continue resting.]

Tao sighed, wriggling back into bed. [Are you sure? They might not recognise you.] The angel had only met with Boss once. It was safer if ze came with.

[Stay. I'll be all right.]

Dammit. [Fine. You better not come back with holes in your clothes I have to patch up.] And the holes in the body that accompanied with them.

[I'll make sure. Now REST.]

"Fine, fine," Tao muttered under hir breath and put hir phone down again. Ze wanted to curl up and close hir eyes again but the call was still going strong. But ze'd promised Boss ze wouldn't move.

Tao exhaled one more time and went to different app on hir phone. Time to search for other stuff to see if they could distract hirself.

xOx

The air buzzed with magic. From Regis continually outpouring power to attract demons and Seira's scythe flashing before slicing through another demon. M-21 didn't have much time to think as they ducked under a blow, seeing the snarling face pass them by as they shoved their sword through the demon. The blood splatter went through them, and the snow around them was stained with it.

"This wasn't-" Seira said, whirling around, her scythe slicing through a demon, "what I had intended when I said I would teach you fight."

"It's helping," M-21 said, keeping their attention on the incoming demons. They were learning what to do and by watching Seira when they could.

The demons were trickling in one by one, but they were getting more frequent. It wasn't the organised army M-21 had heard they would be, and they didn't want to think about it, but that was all their brain would do.

They hadn't recognised anyone –yet- but they had caught glimpses of marks in the brief breaks they had been able to take.

The evidence was mounting up against their Lord, and it couldn't be true, yet it seemed like it was.

"Angel!"

M-21 whirled around, parrying a knife and then sliding in their sword and stabbing the demon. They felt the buzz of magic that wasn't Seira or Regis' and flitted away.

By the time they reappeared next to Regis, the demon was slumped over, multiple long spears jutting out of their body.

It wasn't Seira or Regis' weapons, and it wasn't like any of the weapons M-21 had seen yet.

No, they'd seen that black and purple design before.

M-21 whirled around, trying to find the attacker and there was the blond demon –in a suit like last time- that had been with the other one, one hand raised with a handkerchief waving in the wind. What was that supposed to mean?

"I unfortunately don't have a white flag," the blond demon said, "so I hope that this is sufficient."


	6. Part 6

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"Where's the other demon?" M-21 asked, looking around, trying to find them.

The demon raised an eyebrow. "Ze's resting after hir last meeting with you."

M-21 ducked their head. Oh. That... Yes.

The demon tucked their handkerchief into a pocket and right, M-21 had to tell the others who this was before they attacked.

Except when M-21 turned to them, Sera and Regis were staring at the demon. Not moving. Was there something wrong?

In fact, Regis had stopped calling, his aura faltering.

"I recognise you," Seira said, studying the demon's features, frowning. "You're...Frankenstein Lee."

"Indeed I am," Frankenstein said, dipping their head as their wings flared out. "You two must be from the Loyard and Landegre families."

M-21 hadn't thought much about it when they'd first seen Frankenstein since they didn't have much to compare to, but after seeing all the demons in last day, Frankenstein stood out as being much _bigger_ than the others. Their wings arched higher and spread out wider and while most of the demons' horns were small enough that M-21 could wrap a hand around them, Frankenstein's were thick enough that M-21 wasn't sure both their hands would clasp around Frankenstein's horns. If they would be able to reach that close, since Frankenstein could summon multiple weapons, and how powerful _were_ they?

How did the two know who the demon was?

"But..." Regis said, spluttering, "you're the leading professor in theology!"

Was that important?

Frankenstein smiled, their wings ruffling. "How did you think I was able to 'find' the research to refute some erroneous theories?"

"Though," Frankenstein said, raising a hand to stroke their own chin, "it's become harder to take up a new mantle and continue my research thanks to the invention of photographs." They sighed, shaking their head. "But watching humans' progress with technology has been absolutely fascinating."

"You've been steering everything to muddy the waters," Seira said, gripping her scythe, on the verge of raising it.

"Is that the view you have of my work?" Frankenstein arched an eyebrow.

"...No." Seira wavered, and then lowered her scythe, though not dismissing it yet.

"But then, why _would_ a demon go into this field?" Regis demanded.

Frankenstein chuckled at that. "This _is_ the area of my expertise, after all."

That was true…

"Though I doubt meeting fans is the reason why you made this...call." Frankenstein peered at them all in turn. "We should hurry before we're interrupted - there will be a few stragglers who are only now just catching up."

M-21 nodded and moved closer. They paused when they saw Seira try to grab them from the corner of their eyes, shaking her head. Not too close? M-21 hovered there, and then flapped their wings, backing away again.

Frankenstein didn't say anything, still standing there.

Except having the demon watch them muddled their thoughts and after all the fighting, M-21 couldn't remember all the questions they wanted to ask. There was one they could remember though. "What's the demon's plans for Heaven?"

Frankenstein raised their eyebrow again. "If you are expecting a demon attack, would you expect a demon to tell you, just like that?"

Well, yes. An angel wouldn't lie about any anything if they were asked a question.

But there _were_ no other angels here.

"But truth be told," Frankenstein said, tucking some stray hairs behind their ears again, "there _is_ no plan for Heaven - I'm not sure why you of all people would be asking." Frankenstein frowned, and why had they made that comment towards them?

"As far as I'm aware," Frankenstein said, continuing, "the majority of demons here had chosen to leave."

Another dull throb in M-21's chest area. So was it true then?

"Why would we want to go back?"

Frankenstein gestured to the other demons around them. "I'm sure you can see us presenting a united front against Heaven," they said, their voice wry. And there was the raised eyebrow again.

"Now then," Frankenstein said, looking at everyone, "is that everything?"

M-21 nodded, unable to think of everything else now that the demon was actually there.

"Very well." Frankenstein flapped their wings a few times. "I was between lectures so I need to return. And," they said, glancing around them, "if you wish to contact us again, it would be far safer and more convenient for you if you used my contact details instead. I'm sure you can find them, now that you know who I am."

Regis nodded. "Yeah..."

"Ah, wait-!" M-21 called out as they felt the prickle of magic from the demon.

The magic halted and the demon looked at them. "Yes?"

"Can..." The words wouldn't come, and M-21 flapped their wings, trying to form their thoughts. "Can you tell the other demon I'm sorry for getting them hurt, and thank you." They bowed.

The demon didn't say anything for a few seconds. "I'll make sure ze gets your message."

M-21 relaxed their wings, folding them close to their body. "Thank you."

The demon was already gone by the time M-21 straightened again.

"He's right," Seira said, her scythe no longer in her hand. "We should leave."

M-21 nodded.

xOx

Tao's internet searches hadn't turned anything up; there were a number of urban legends in the city, but what place didn't? Ze'd already visited those places.

It didn't help that the call from Loyard and Landegre had stopped a few minutes ago, soon after ze'd talked with Boss. There hadn't been any flares of power following it, so that meant they weren't in a fight either. Hopefully. Unless the angel had tried to attack Boss. The angel wouldn't have the time to generate enough power for Tao to sense it from where they were.

Tao drummed hir fingers over hir phone. Boss was fine. Boss was Boss. Of course they were.

The sack of stones in hir gut wasn't shifting though, grinding against each other. What it they _weren't_ fine? What if something happened? And ze were here _not doing anything_?

Hir phone buzzed and Tao exhaled, some of the tension in hir stomach easing.

[I'm back at the university. I didn't do anything too strenuous.]

Which meant Boss _had_ done something, even if it was small. [What happened?]

[I dusted off a skill I haven't tried in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised to find I can still pull it off with little trouble.]

That could mean a huge number of spells and manoeuvres Boss knew.

[I met some fans. Angel wanted to know if we were going to try and steal their flag.]

Tao quirked an eyebrow up at Boss using 'angel' in a text, but it could be used as a nickname, so it probably didn't look so weird out of context.

And then ze snorted when they read the full sentence, a flare of pain in hir stomach reminding hirself to not do that again. Ze would have loved seeing Boss' reaction to that.

[We need to find our King first.] _Then_ they could return to Heaven and find out what exactly had changed since the last time they'd been there.

[Of course. Angel also apologises for getting you hurt and thanks you for saving them.]

Both Tao's eyebrows shot up this time, reading over the text again to make sure ze'd read it right. And the meaning was still the same the second time around. Huh. [What did you do?] Tao sent, smiling. [I know you can be a scary person when you want to be.]

Tao could just imagine Boss' wings rustling as they tried to not flap them so they wouldn't show Tao had affected them. Boss liked appearing unruffled at all times, but there were a few things Tao knew would get a reaction out of them.

[I did not intimidate it out of them.]

Ze grinned, flipping the tip of hir tail on hir bed. [I'll believe you this time.] Don't laugh, don't laugh, because that would _hurt_. [I'll prepare dinner for when you get back.] That should be a big enough subject change.

[Don't strain yourself.]

[I won't. You get back to work.] Tao wriggled back further under hir covers.

Ze had a number of hours until they had to get up.

xOx

M-21 watched Regis patch Seira up. Seira was bleeding in a few places, though not as much as the dark-haired demon had. M-21 knew what happened to physical bodies when they were hurt, but that was different from seeing it in front of their own eyes.

They turned back to the microwave. The numbers were still counting down but it was almost ready.

When the machine beeped, M-21 concentrated their power to their hands, opening it. Trying to phase the mug through the door wouldn't work, they could guess that much.

"Angel," Seira said, looking in their direction. "You don't need to do that."

M-21 fluttered back and forth in tight circles. "I want to help." They didn't know how to take care of wounds, but they knew how to make hot chocolate after seeing Seira and Regis make it. Touching a mug was one thing, but they didn't want to find out what could happen if they lost their concentration while touching Seira or Regis.

"If you're sure," Seira said, watching them, and M-21 nodded.

"I am." It was the least they would do. They added all the things M-21 had seen them add to Seira's cup and then concentrated again, making sure they gripped the mug in the way they'd seen Seira do as they hovered over to her side.

She nodded and smiled at them as they took the cup from their hands. "Thank you."

M-21 flapped their wings in answer and then moved to make Regis' hot drink.

The television was on as Regis finished up and M-21 finished making the second cup of hot chocolate for Regis.

" _In shocking news, the aftermath of a large scale fight has been discovered on the outskirts of the city._ " the person on the tv said.

Wait. M-21 turned their attention to it, recognising what was on the tv. That was...

 _"-anyone has any information, to please contact the police or call this number-_

M-21 turned their attention to Seira and Regis, who were watching but not moving for their phones.

Could they not reach them? Regis could still move and M-21 hovered a little closer to the phones. "Aren't you going to tell them?" M-21 asked when the news turned to something else.

Regis shook his head. "At best, they won't believe us."

"At _best_?" M-21 echoed. But they were fighting demons!

"At worst they will think we did it and lock us away. And we _are_ the culprits they're looking for, so it's best not to tell them."

* * *

I'd written more today, but this is as far as I got with editing it, hah.


	7. Part 7

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

Thanks to Myriade for her help with the theology explanation. :3

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Oh.

"But you should be recognised for your work!" M-21 said. "You're protecting others."

Seira and Regis shared a look. "Angel," Seira said, standing up after pulling a shirt on again. "There aren't that many humans that can see angels and demons, remember? To them, all they would see are dead bodies."

They wouldn't believe that demons had been possessing those bodies.

To the majority of humans here, angels and demons are only things that don't exist.

Oh. That. _oh_ Of course that made sense. No-one could see them, and that had been the point. So of course if other humans tried to understand what had happened, they wouldn't, because they didn't know that angels and demons existed.

"And angel," Regis said, shaking his head, "we're not doing this to be recognised."

That...was the opposite of what M-21 was doing. They were trying to complete their mission specifically to be recognised by their Lord, so that they could have a name. Yet these humans were selfless, not wanting to be recognised for their work, even though they could die doing it. No-one would know what they had done, aside from a few number of people.

"We'll need to stay low for a while," Seira said, sipping her drink after turning the TV off. "The police will be on higher alert, so that means we won't be able to fight demons for the next little while."

M-21 nodded. "I understand." After what had happened, they'd spent enough time fighting demons. They could do more later.

There had been a few questions that M-21 had couldn't be answered, but there was one Seira and Regis could. "Who's Frankenstein Lee?" The way Seira and Regis had reacted, the demon had seemed important.

Regis frowned, though it was broken by a yawn. "Lee is a professor of theology. Someone who studies God as a concept and the nature of religious ideas. As someone who's the top of the field, him being a demon is...suspect."

Ah, huh.

"We have books here," Regis said, yawning again. "Do you think you would be able to read them?"

M-21 nodded. Angels had knowledge of all languages, so that part wouldn't be difficult. As for turning their pages, it would take a bit of concentration, but a page was lighter than a mug, so they should be fine.

Regis smiled. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Night."

xOx

Tao set the bowl of soup down in front of Boss. "Simple dinner, since you insisted," ze said, sticking hir tongue out at them.

Ze didn't duck out the way as Boss reached over and ruffled hir hair, their hand right between hir horns. Ze hummed at the feeling, smiling.

Tao settled into hir own chair. "So what do you think of the angel's mission?" There was no reason for the angel to think that, unless they thought they were protecting humans from demons? Which could make some sense.

"Heaven has no idea what's going on over here," Boss said, frowning. "Though it's still concerning how different Heaven seems to be from what we know so far."

Which was a common thought Tao kept having. Maybe they _should_ go back and start asking questions, but if things had changed too much, who knew if they would be able to leave again. And they'd promised that they wouldn't return until they'd found Boss' Lord.

"It seems like it." Tao tipped hir chair back so it was only on two legs. "Angel's almost like a newborn." Heaven wouldn't make a newborn do any tasks. They were supposed to just fly about in the clouds and have fun.

"Keep doing that and I'll tip you over completely," Boss said, not looking up from their soup.

Tao gasped, making hir eyes go wide. "While I'm injured! How could you say such a thing!" Ze was proud hir voice hadn't wavered while ze said it, though laughter was bubbling up hir throat.

"It's _because_ you're injured I gave you a warning first." Boss gave hir a pointed look and Tao snickered, keeping the position for a second and then set the legs down again.

xOx

Tao was still waking up when Boss came into hir room the next morning, breakfast laid out onto a tray.

"Boss," Tao said, sitting up, "you didn't actually have to make me breakfast in bed." Ze were better than they had been the day before.

"I would prefer you-"

Boss' phone rang, and they paused, their eyebrows drawn in.

"Huh." That was weird. No-one called Boss at early in the morning unless it was important. Most people e-mailed Boss since there was usually _some_ time difference between them so it was just more likely Boss would be awake or they wouldn't be in the middle of a lecture at the time.

Boss answered it as Tao started eating. Ze almost purred, the warmth hitting them. Boss' cooking was good as it always was.

"Professor Lee speaking."

Tao was close enough to hear the voice on the other side.

"Hello, Professor Lee." Boss' brows shot up, and their wings flexed. Huh. Who was it?

"Ah, Miss Loyard, I hadn't expected to hear from you so soon."

Tao's eyebrows shot up as well. No kidding.

"Our friend would like to talk with you."

…Hah. It really was troublesome not having a physical body, if the angel had to get Loyard to phone for them.

"Our friend wants to learn more information."

Boss nodded slowly. "I understand. However," they said, frowning, "I have more lectures today, and won't be free until later-"

Tao waved hir arm in the air, grinning. Ze was fine to take this! Healed up enough that ze was okay to waving hir hand in the air, so that was proof of how they were feeling.

"-but if your friend would prefer to talk our mutual acquaintance, then that could be arranged."

"Hold on."

Boss raised their eyebrows at hir and Tao nodded. Ze was sure they would fine. The previous meeting hadn't been a trap and Boss hadn't been hurt, so Tao felt okay meeting up with the angel. They knew to be careful at all times anyway.

"We will similarly be working, but Regis will accompany our friend until they meet up."

Tao snickered, continuing to eat breakfast. Trying to _not_ say what they were meaning was making them sound more suspicious.

" _Try_ to not get into another fight," Boss said after they ended the call.

Tao huffed, one side of hir mouth quirking up. "I'll try my best."

xOx

M-21 hovered around the park, watching the rain fall from the tips of leaves, turning the snow under it into slush as Regis grumbled under his umbrella at the weather. They'd gone to a quieter part of the park so Regis could have some more freedom talking with them.

"Why don't you want me to meet them?" M-21 asked, keeping a look out for the demon. Regis had been arguing against it since M-21 had asked to get in contact with the demons.

"You can't trust demons, angel," Regis said, crossing his arms. "They lie and lay traps."

"These ones didn't." If they had, M-21 would have already died.

"You should still be careful. They could be doing this to gain your trust and then kill you that way."

The demons could have killed them any time they wanted. Why would they waste time doing it this way where they gained M-21's trust, unless. Unless they were bored? But it didn't seem like it in all that had happened so far. The black-haired demon seemed genuinely worried about them.

Waiting wasn't so bad, now that they knew what to expect, and they...trusted the other demon now. They should, after everything the demon had done for them already, and M-21 still didn't know why. They were a demon; they shouldn't have helped them. Was it only those two demons that - no, it wasn't.

And that was all the thoughts M-21 had had as the night gave way to the night, their thoughts tumbling against each other. They'd needed to know what was going on, had needed more information that was in the books. They were interesting to read, but it wasn't what M-21 had needed, talking about different topics.

Some humans still walked around, a number with dogs, their collars turned up against the rain and none spared M-21 a glance.

M-21 had gotten used to being acknowledged by Seira and Regis, and they missed Heaven and everyone greeting each other as they passed and being _seen_.

But...was Heaven really what they thought it was?

M-21 just needed to talk with someone who had been where they had, who shared their experiences, knew what they knew and more.

The demon walked up to them, hood up against the rain and a thermos and a plastic bag in one hand. Regis stiffened at the sight of the demon.

The demon seemed to be moving fine, but M-21 still studied their movements. It was unhurried and smooth, like nothing had happened only a day ago.

Still.

"Hey," the demon said to Regis, tilting their head at M-21. "I'm finally here, so you don't need to chaperone them anymore."

Regis snorted, glowering at the demon. "Do _not_ harm them." His aura flickered for a second, and the demon backed up a step, waving a hand in the air, an eyebrow up.

"No hurting, yeah, got it. Why would you even do this if you didn't trust me?"

"Because _they_ do." Regis was frowning viciously, still glowering.

"Huh." The demon glanced at them. "Then trust their judgement, you know."

"Tch." Regis gave the demon one last glare, and then nodded at M-21. "I'll be going now."

The demon whistled as they rocked back and forth on their heels, watching Regis leave. "That was fun."

"Ah," M-21 said, "sorry."

The demon shook their head. "It's fine. They're a demon hunter; them hating my guts is pretty expected. Not attacking me on sight is actually pretty courteous."

It was unwarranted. And yet they'd done the same thing as Regis, hating all demons before they'd met them.

Tao wandered over to a bench and after scraping some of the slush away, sat down with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," M-21 said, hovering closer. "About attacking you." Frankenstein had said they would tell them, but M-21 still wanted to say it to their face.

The demon shook their head. "It's fine. Just, don't do that again," the demon said, their breath expelling from their mouth. "I'd rather _not_ go through that again."

M-21 nodded, watching as the demon unscrewed the top of the thermos. It had to be a hot drink, steam rising from its insides.

"I won't." They'd learned their lesson now.

The demon dug into their bag, pulling out a small box. When the demon took off the lid, there were sandwiches inside. "I'd offer you some, but since you can't eat…" The demon took a bite of the sandwich, humming.

With enough concentration, they would be able to pick up the sandwich, but eating it? No, they wouldn't be able to.

"What _is_ it like?" M-21 asked, perching on the bench arm.

"Mm?" The demon looked up at them, stretching their legs out in front of them. "Eating?"

M-21 nodded.

The demon grinned. "Pretty awesome!" They look another bite. "It's an experience, but I don't know if I'd be able to explain it if I tried. But…" They trailed off, swinging a leg. "It can make you really happy, eating can warm you up and there's _taste_. Just the smell of food can make you want it." The demon shook their head, smiling.

Smell? Though, M-21 _had_ noticed Seira and Regis sniffing something, turning their heads towards something at the same time, alerted by something M-21 couldn't sense.

"And you wouldn't know what that is either, huh?"

"No." M-21 shook their head. The only senses they seemed to share with Seira and Regis was sight, hearing and sensing auras.

"…Was it worth it?" M-21 asked, watching the demon eat.

The demon swallowed. "What was?"

"Turning your back on Heaven."

The demon's eyebrows bunched together as they frowned. "Well, yeah."

They could say it that easily? Was being changed into a demon and having a physical body really worth going against everything they had been created for?


	8. Part 8

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"I left Heaven to follow Boss. I haven't-"

"You gave yourself a new Lord?" Or were they talking about Muzaka?

"Well, yeah," the demon said, tilting their head at them. "I mean-" They paused, looking them over. "...Right, you probably weren't around back then, were you?"

Back then? But how did they know how old they were?

The demon sighed, taking another bite of their sandwich. "A couple thousand years ago, Boss' Lord-"

Wait. Why would they say it like that? Why not M-21's Lord? 'Your Lord'?

"-just...disappeared one day." They turned their head away, pouring some of the drink from their thermos into the lid. "We searched _everywhere_ in Heaven, but we couldn't find a single trace of Them there."

The demon stared out at the park and M-21 watched their breath mist in front of their face, the shapes it made.

That didn't make any sense. Their Lord was back. And no-one had ever told M-21 that had happened.

"So we figured that if Boss' Lord wasn't _there_ -"

No. The demon couldn't be saying what they thought they were going to say.

"-then they only place left to look was the physical realm."

"You...left because you were still loyal to Heaven." They hadn't left because they'd turned their back, but because they were trying to bring order back to their world.

"Huh." The demon took a sip of their drink, glancing at them. "I guess you could put it like that."

M-21 drooped their wings and ducked their head. "And you were punished for it." Like M-21's batchmates and all the other angels their Lord had sent to the physical realm.

The demon shrugged, pouring more of the drink. "Not really; we knew what we were getting into."

M-21 creased their eyebrows, not understanding. "You did?"

"How did you know what would happen to an angel here?"

That answer was easy. "My Lord told me."

The demon nodded. "We knew because Boss was one of the angels that helped make the barrier between our worlds."

 _Their_ \- But then - "My Lord didn't?" How? M-21 had thought their Lord had made everything!

"Nah," the demon said, waving a hand. "Unless-" They peered at M-21. "Does your Lord have black hair?"

M-21 shook their head. "No..." Their Lords were different. So M-21's Lord must have stepped up when the demon's Lord left.

"Ah well." The demon sighed, their breath puffing in a big gust. "But yeah, it was Boss' Lord, Boss and Muzaka who made the barrier."

Muzaka as well... "Is Muzaka really the devil here?" Or was that another lie?

The demon didn't say anything and then shook their head. "Yeah, Muzaka's the devil over here, but if you're talking about some puppet master who controls all demons?" Tao snorted. "Nah. We didn't see them when we arrived here - we _did_ see the demons trying to control humanity. That was around about when we started getting called demons, thanks to them."

"What happened to Muzaka?" Muzaka had to be powerful to have helped build the barrier; why wouldn't the other demons listen to them?

The demon frowned, their shoulders hunching up, their wings curling up around them as if to protect them from the world. "They'd disappeared too," the demon said, their voice quieter. "And the demons back then had either been created from contracts and didn't know who Muzaka _was_ , or they didn't care, laughing in our faces when we'd tried to ask. Takeo-"

The demon froze and then pursed their lips. "The other demons wouldn't listen to our questions."

They looked away, focusing on eating again.

M-21 mulled the information over, trying to make sense of it. The demon's Lord wasn't their Lord. It was unthinkable. What had it been like back then - _had_ things been different or were they exactly the same?

The demon was bundled up in so many layers of clothing M-21 couldn't see what mark they had to know long ago that had been.

"Why do you think your Lord left?" M-21 asked, flapping their wings a little. Would their Lord do the same? Would there be one day where someone went to meet their Lord, and their Lord was just...gone? For the _connection_ between their Lord to be gone?

"I don't know," the demon said, setting their thermos into their bag after recapping the lid. "That's why it was so surprising. We thought Boss' Lord would always be there. But once we find Them, we'll find out."

M-21 stared at them, their core tightening. "It's been thousands of years and...you haven't found Them yet?" How could they keep going? What if - what if the demon's Lord was dead? They'd left Heaven to find their Lord and couldn't return, and for what, if they couldn't find their Lord?

"No, we haven't. But we're working on it." The demon started eating again. They looked over at M-21, a small smile on their lips, bringing their wings back behind them. "And Boss isn't looking for their Lord to get answers, angel; Boss just wants to know their Lord is _safe_."

Oh. If M-21's Lord did that, would they do the same? Would they have been willing to leave Heaven to try and find them? Of course they would, right? It was their duty to...follow their Lord. But there was nothing about caring for their Lord.

And following their Lord had led them to the physical realm, where they found out their batchmates and other angels had been tricked into going to as well.

Could they change into a demon while searching for their Lord and still be loyal to Them thousands of years later of not being able to find Them?

It had only been a few days here and they were questioning their Lord.

But this was their _Lord_ ; they were supposed to be unthinkingly loyal towards them.

"Would-" M-21 stopped, sensing a wild aura lashing out near them.

The demon's head jerked up. "Aw, come _on_!" the demon hissed, stuffing their sandwich back into their bag. "Why does this keep happening every time I'm eating outside?"

"What are you doing?" M-21 asked, straightening.

"Getting ready for a fight, because knowing my luck, the demon's going to come flitting out around that direction." The demon pointed over to their right.

Nothing happened, the rain starting to turn into snow again.

"You're supposed to rest," M-21 said as the demon stood up. They were hurt.

"I know how to fight while injured, angel," the demon said, eyeing them. "Touch is a nice sense to have, but pain sucks," they continued to grumble. "Still," they said, raising their voice, "I know how to deal with it."

A demon stumbled out from their left and M-21 fluttered back upright, getting off the bench arm.

Long red hair. Three twisting horns that could just be seen above their hair. And they were wearing a white robe that was dragging along the ground.

No.

It was M-82. They were clutching their head, their walk unsteady, their brow creased as they frowned.

"M-82," M-21 called out and their batchmate paused, lifting their head and turning towards them. "What - what are you doing here?" M-21 _knew_ , but they couldn't - they didn't _want_ to believe it was true.

"Angel," the demon murmured next to them. "I don't think you should try that."

This was their _batchmate_. They couldn't - but the last time they'd tried, the demon had gotten hurt because of them.

"Our L-" M-82 started, then stopped, staring down at their hands, bringing a black wing around to study it. " _Your_ Lord-"

M-21 cringed at that correction, drawing their wings in at the words.

"-said I was-"

"-made for the mission," M-21 completed. No. Why. _Why_ was their Lord continuing to do this? They couldn't think, trying to understand what their Lord was doing.

M-82 shook their head, still stepping closer. "You have to be a hallucination. A trick made by that demon."

What demon? M-21 glanced at the demon next to them, and that demon didn't have their whip out, but they didn't need it to fight, did they?

"I'm not a hallucination, M-82," M-21 said, taking a step closer.

"Angel!" the demon hissed. "It's not safe. Look at them!"

M-21 _was_ looking at them, seeing all the changes that had happened to them. But the last time they hadn't believed the demon, the demon had gotten hurt because of them.

"But I'm a demon too now," M-82 said. "Turned my back on your Lord." They were rubbing their head, their breathing coming in short pants. They were straightening, pulling their wings back as they gazed at M-21.

"But this...body is different. It's hungry. I think that's what this feeling is."

"Hey, I've got food right here if you want something to eat," the demon said, though they didn't move just yet.

M-82 turned their head towards the demon, but didn't look at them. Their focus was on M-21.

"You're really here, aren't you?" M-82 murmured, taking another step towards them.

"I am."

"Maybe..." M-82 said, still staring at them. "You still have your angel powers." The pained expression on their face cleared. "Maybe…if I take your power I'll turn back into an angel and I'll be able to go back."

What? Wait, was that why demons attacked people with power? If angels and demons could sense Seira and Regis and they had been given the power of angels as well...

"Angel..." There was a warning in the demon's voice.

"I know," M-21 said, watching M-82, their core coiled tight. "I won't attack you this time."

M-82 summoned their sword and it was different, the blade ridged, the guard curved around their hand.

But could they allow to the demon to fight for them? M-82 wanted to attack _them_ , not the demon.

They were supposed to be the protector, not the protected.

Though they'd proven that they hadn't done a good job with that at all since they'd come to the physical realm.

M-82 charged at them, a scream in their throat and it really was obvious how they were going to attack. After the demons M-21 had fought with Seira, it was far too easy to read what M-82 was going to do.

The demon flitted to M-82's side and - leapt back, fire lashing out from M-82's blade and attacking them. M-21 could see the demon holding their side just before they attacked again.

Dammit. It had been their fault the demon was hurt, and this was _their_ fight. "Demon!" M-21 called out, flexing their wings. "Stay out of this!" They clenched their hand into a fist just before they summoned their sword.

The sight of that made M-82's face twist and M-21 blocked their strike. The flames leapt out, clawing at their arm and face.

They could feel the flames digging into them, like it was trying to burrow right into them and M-21 let go of their sword, flitting away.

"M-82-"

"Angel!" the demon yelled behind them. "They're trying to _kill_ you."

And the last time someone had done that, the demon had to step in so it didn't happen.

"I know," M-21 whispered as M-82 whirled around, charging again. They couldn't attack a batchmate that easily. But they had to.

M-82 wasn't stopping, and they couldn't either.

Preparing themself, M-21 didn't bothering to summon their sword as they flitted to M-82's side. They ducked under the expected gout of flame, sweeping their leg out under M-82, putting power through their limb so it could connect.

M-82 tumbled over, their momentum making them skid across the ground.

In the time they had while M-82 scrambled to their feet, M-21 summoned their sword and flitted behind M-82, stabbing their back and flitting away again before M-82's flames could attack them.

M-82 went down with a cry, an arm wrapped around as close as they could reach.

M-21 hovered there, watching them as M-82 struggled back to their feet, using their sword to push them up.

They had to do this.

Why. _Why_? What was their Lord _doing_ making them fight? There wasn't any reason for this, only for someone to keep dying? Did the Lord not want them? Sent them over to the physical realm to die?

Blood was staining the snow again, spreading out underneath M-82.

M-21 prepared themself and flitted again, this time right in front of M-82 and buried the sword into their stomach, slashing upwards.

M-82's horns and wings disappeared as they slumped over, not moving.

M-21 let go of their sword, not bothering to dismiss it as they stared up at the sky.

They drifted down, curling up on themselves as they stared at M-82's body.

They couldn't - They couldn't do this.

It wasn't worth being loyal. Not to get recognition from their Lord, or to be given a name.

They drew in their wings, shaking their head. There was a tenseness inside them, something they couldn't identify, but they couldn't trust the Lord anymore.

They didn't have faith in their Lord anymore.

They squeezed their eyes shut, no longer wanting to see, burying their face in their arms.

They felt smaller than they had before, everything about them tight, trying to collapse into themself.

Their body was tingling and it must be the aftereffects of M-82's flames affecting them somehow.

The sensation was spreading through, the tingle turning into a prickle, and it was getting stronger, moving to encompass their entire body. Their lower half was different from their top, a mild pressure starting to surround them, and what _was_ that?

M-21 opened their eyes, but there was nothing new about them.

Except their body wasn't transparent as it used to be, and-

" _Ah!_ " M-21 grabbed their head, feeling like taken a giant chunk out of it, leaving only half of their head there.

No. It _had_.

Their connection - their connection with their Lord was _gone_. They scrabbled at where they knew it was, where the connection had _always been_ but there was no comforting presence there. Nothing.

An empty hole.

How could they - how had -

M-21 arched their back, their wings snapping out and they could _feel_ themselves changing, the prickle spreading further, _deeper_ inside of them. Something was _moving_ inside them, making their very insides thrum and it _wouldn't stop_.

The air was freezing in front of their face and they were _breathing_ , their chest moving on its own, not doing what they were telling it to. Why was their body doing this? Why was their body doing all these things they weren't telling them?

"Dammit," they heard behind them, and they wanted to turn, but they couldn't. It wasn't responding to them; it was like when the demon had stood on their chest to pin them to the ground.

They looked down instead, wanting to see how far they'd changed, almost tumbling over at the same time. They had a physical body. They weren't connected with their Lord anymore.

They had fur and claws.

What...? Their thoughts were sluggish, trying to understand everything that was happening, all the senses that were _bombarding_ them, demanding attention.

Their body was moving again, without them telling it to do anything and how did humans control these bodies? This time it was twitching, making moving even harder as everything tightened up.

"Ange - fuck. Kid." Something pushed on their shoulder and when M-21 looked over, the movement jerky, there was a hand there. They could only move their eyes, trying to see more, but their movements were stiff. What was happening? Was this what demons went through when they transformed?

"Still with me? Nod if you think so; talking when you first start out is bad enough but in freezing temperatures - right." The hand lifted away and M-21 could see movement from the corner of their eyes. "I'm going to put my jacket around you, okay? It's a little heavy, but it'll warm you up."

Something went over their shoulders and M-21 nearly got dragged to the ground because of it.

Why...? It was still hard to think and M-21's breathing was getting shorter and faster, but the demon's actions weren't making sense.

"Kid...? Can you nod for me?" The demon's voice softer than it had been before.

Nod. They could do that. They didn't know why the demon wanted it, but they didn't know anything, did they? They dipped their head, bringing it back up again.

This time, the weight lay on M-21's head and M-21 could control more of their body, tilting their head up, something brushing into their eyes that made them flutter. It was still the demon, touching them, and the demon's face was blank. M-21 couldn't identify their expression.

"Oh, kid," the demon whispered and then they knelt down, wrapping their arms around them.

It was...strange. There was still too much going on that M-21 couldn't understand but the demon's touch was...nice. Warm? Was that what the word was? When their skin touched, M-21's skin tingled, but not in the stabbing way.

It was nice, and M-21 didn't want it to stop.

Against the dragging weight of their limbs, M-21 raised their arms towards the demon.

The demon moved away a little bit when M-21 moved, and no no no, M-21 didn't want that.

Except the demon was watching their limbs and when M-21 kept moving, they took hold of one of their hands and placed it around them.

Oh. That was what they were supposed to do. M-21 gripped the clothes there, _feeling_ the material under their palms. So this was what touch was.

"Kid, I need to flit us out of here," the demon murmured. "The police are probably right around the corner."

M-21 didn't care. They'd turned their back on their Lord, and they'd lost the one constant in their existence, the connection they'd had with Them, ripped out of their head. What mattered now? 

* * *

I can fiiiinally start using physical descriptors/reactions for M-21's emotions!

Aaaaand halfway through and 19k! I was expecting to reach this spot faster.


	9. Part 9

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao turned up the heating so ze and the – kid would be toasty inside the house. It would feel weird to the kid either way, but being warm was better than being cold.

Ze had to trust the kid wouldn't attack hir while ze looked after them, and so far, the kid hadn't given any signs they were violent.

The opposite, in fact. The kid had looked so _blank_ , their face expressionless as they knelt in the snow. It could have been they were being overwhelmed like Tao and Takeo had been, but there had been no exploration, trying to figure out what everything was. They had just knelt there, trembling and on the verge of tears.

Not that Tao could blame them, and there was something _strange_ at how three beings from the kid's batch had all been clutching their head when Tao had seen them. What did that mean? Had other demons Tao had fought been the same? Ze hadn't taken note of that, more interested in protecting the human the demon had been attacking at the time.

Ze sighed, pulling out their phone. [Something happened and we've got a houseguest. We're fine, but I'm stealing your clothes.]

That sent, Tao went to Boss' room and started to rummage around their drawers, trying to figure out what could fit the kid. The kid was closer to Boss' body type than Tao's, and it only took a few minutes to find something Tao hadn't seen Boss wear in a while.

Humming lightly under hir breath, ze went back to hir own room. The kid was there, not moved since ze'd placed them in hir bed and wrapped them up in under hir blanket.

Tao placed Boss' clothes on a chair and walked over. "Hey, kid." They got a blink for that, at least; they had to keep engaging the kid, if that helped. Ze _hoped_ that helped.

As for the changes the kid had gotten as a demon...

The kid's hair seemed fluffier than before, and their feathers looked more like down than something that could help them fly. Not that that was needed for an angel or a demon. Tao had been able to see they didn't have the spaded tail like most other demons, but instead had a thick, furry tail. Their claw-tipped hands and large pointy ears that sat on top of their head was more differences amongst everything else. If someone could see their true forms, they would the the kid was a werewolf before a demon.

Tao hadn't seen those kind of changes in millennia, not since ze'd just arrived in the physical realm and had seen Muzaka's batch of demons.

"Tell me if you feel some really weird feelings," Tao said, sitting down next to them. "Weirder than what you've felt so far."

"It's all weird," the kid murmured into hir pillow, only moving their eyes to look up at hir. "How do you concentrate?"

"We adapt, heh," Tao said, smiling down at them. "It's all background noise after a while. But I know how you feel."

The kid frowned. "It can't be. I can't ever get used to it."

Tao's smile turned wry and ze reached over to ruffle the kid's hair, right between their new ears.

This time, the kid frowned while one of the ears flicked down. "You keep touching me. Why?"

It was a better reaction than what ze'd had before. "Touch is a connection," Tao said, petting their hair. "It tells you you're not alone."

The kid's expression brittled. "Oh."

Hm, what had ze said?

"I - I don't get it!" the kid burst out, and Tao jerked back slightly, but aside from the kid's outburst, they didn't move to attack. "Why am I still _me_? Why haven't I changed like my batchmates?"

"You have, kid," Tao said, taking hir hand back so the kid could work through their thoughts without distractions. "You've turned into a demon."

The kid shook their head. "I'm not attacking people. Why haven't I attacked _you_? As soon as they saw me, my batchmates attacked. Is it-" They chocked up, their eyes going wide.

"It's okay," Tao murmured, rubbing a continuous circle on the kid's shoulder. "Just keep breathing, your body is just reacting to your distress."

"Why-" The word was a strangled cry as they thrashed their wings. "Why does this body keep doing _things_?"

If the kid hadn't been so distressed, Tao would have been amused at how badly they were taking to the new changes. "Your body's giving you feedback; it lets you know if it needs something or if something else is happening."

And Tao would have sworn that was a _growl_ that erupted from the kid's throat.

"But to answer your question," Tao said in the hopes that doing so would calm the kid down, "I think it's because of me."

The kid focused on hir again, and that did seem to distract them from what their body was doing.

"Magic...?"

Tao shook hir head, smiling. "Nah, nothing that big. I'm hoping anyway." Tao ruffling their hair again. "I gave you something else to focus on when you changed, and touch is a good way to keep a connection with someone."

"And to replace the one we lost," the kid murmured, looking away as they raised a hand to press it to their own forehead.

"Well… Yeah," Tao said, peering at them, "but I don't think you're talking about the same connection I am." Not with how the kid was starting to hold their head again.

The kid looked at them, their eyebrows drawn in. "The link."

"What link?" Tao frowned at that 'explanation' and the kid's eyes widened.

"With my - the Lord!"

Unease coiled inside Tao. "Yeah, you've lost me now," Tao told them. "We weren't connected to boss' Lord. Everyone would have known then when They'd disappeared." It was because not everyone was connected with Boss' Lord that they were able to keep it quiet, that they could pretend everything was still running smoothly.

"You...weren't?" the kid repeated, like this was a an unfathomable thing, like this was a new concept. "But then, how did you Lord keep track of you?"

...Who the hell was in charge right now? What the fuck _was_ that? "They didn't," Tao said, hir words clipped. "If we wanted to do something, then that was our will, and we could do it with Boss' Lord blessing."

"Then...if you wanted to leave Heaven..." the kid said, their eyes going wide again.

Tao nodded. "Then we could leave. Like Muzaka. That was our choice." Tao sighed. Damn, all those conversations ze'd had with the kid, ze'd thought...

"But-" the kid paused, pursing their lips.

"What is it?"

The kid blinked, and then shook their head.

Tao mustered up a small grin. It wasn't one of their usual ones, but it would be good after everything the kid had gone through. "Heh. Ask whatever question you want - Boss was always happy to answer any questions I had, so I should really pass that on." That was part of the reason why ze would follow Boss anywhere - Boss had been willing to stop whatever they'd been doing to answer whatever question Tao had, even in Heaven.

The kid's stomach rumbled instead and their mouth dropped open, a hand flying to their stomach.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Tao said, waving a hand, hoping that would calm them down. "It just means your body needs food."

"Food," the kid repeated.

"Give me a second, okay?"

"Okay...?" the kid said, nodding.

"And if you can, sit up against the headboard," ze said, tapping it. "But don't worry if you can't - I'll help you when I get back."

They went to the kitchen and started heating up some of Boss' soup. It didn't take long, and Tao pulled out the tray for the kid.

"I'm back," Tao said, and smiled at the sight of the kid leaning against the headboard. "This is hot, okay? It's meant to be - I'd have made a sandwich, but this goes down a lot easier."

The kid was staring at the bowl, their nose twitching.

Tao grinned this time. "Yeah, that's your sense of smell."

"My sense of smell," the kid repeated, taking a deeper breath. " _This_ is what everyone smells?"

"Pretty much," Tao said, putting the tray over the kid's lap. Though with how the kid looked, ze wouldn't be surprised if their sense of smell was better than everyone else's.

"I dunno if Loyard and Landegre had soup while you were there, but you take the spoon-" Tao waved the extra one ze brought. "-and dip it in like this, and then-" Ze hummed as Boss' soup hit hir tongue.

"You'll know how to swallow," Tao said, as the kid looked between everything, picking up their own spoon. "Our body knows what to do with the basic necessities, which is good, or else we would have died soon after we came here." Tao twirled their spoon between their fingers. "Boss' Lord's gift, probably."

"Gift...?"

Tao nodded. "Well, yeah. Boss' Lord made the barrier, remember? Why do you think They made it?"

"To punish us!" the kid said instantly, without thought. "So we would be forever changed and couldn't go back to Heaven."

Oh, kid. Tao exhaled. "You were here unchanged for a couple of days," ze said, looking at them. "How did it feel?"

The kid didn't say anything, and then their gaze dropped to their soup. "...Like I was alone, even with Seira and Regis being able to see me."

Tao nodded. "Boss' Lord made the barrier so we could interact with the people here."

The kid's eyes widened and their gaze snapped to hir. "We're not trapped here?"

"Nah." Tao shook hir head. "We just have to go through the barrier again to be changed back to an angel."

"That's it?" The kid started to frown. "And you didn't because you wanted to find your Boss' Lord first."

"Yup." There wasn't point going back when the whole point of going to the physical realm was to find their Boss' Lord. Why go back when they hadn't finished what they'd meant to? They didn't want to go back to a Heaven without Them.

"Oh." The kid was staring at the soup again. Slowly, they started to emulate what Tao had done, sniffing at the soup.

Before the soup was in the kid's mouth, Tao said, "Make sure it goes down your throat before speaking."

The kid put the spoon into their mouth and their mouth dropped open again. "It's warm! No wond-" They coughed, and Tao patted their back, chuckling.

"You're okay! It's okay. That's why you're not supposed to talk while eating - these bodies have one tube for talking and another for eating - they're just in the same place and can get a little mixed up."

The kid just stared at hir. "Why were they made like that?"

Tao scratched hir cheek. "Small bodies with not a lot of space, so it's more efficient that way, I think."


	10. Part 10

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

Contains: Anecdotal gore.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

The kid took another spoonful of soup and didn't have as much trouble swallowing the second time.

When they lowered their spoon though, they didn't bring it up again. "…Why are you like this?" the kid whispered.

"Heh," Tao said, "working this all out is hard on your own."

The kid shook their head. "Not this." They paused. "Not _just_ this. From the start, you've looked out for me and I was trying to _kill_ you. Why?"

Oh. _That_ was what the kid was asking. "Because you need all the guidance you can get," Tao said. "Someone to look out for you. I know what it's like to have to get used to all those sensations. And I also know what it's like to think that everything's fine and everything will just work out, no matter what you do, because that's how it's always been, right?" The kid was listening to every word ze said, their soup forgotten. "I had Boss and Takeo with me when we went through the barrier, and we were going to find Boss' Lord in a matter of day, then we'd go back and everything would be back to normal. Easy."  
Tao sighed, their heart squeezing at the memories. "But we didn't have a direction or a _way_ to try and find Boss' Lord, and that was before we found out what had been happening since Muzaka had went through."

Tao closed hir eyes, picking at hir skin with a nail. "We had found a village and were talking with the people there, trying to see if someone looking like Them had travelled through. We found out that demons had been attacking people instead, attacking during the nighttime.

"So of course we decided to help out. The humans needed our help, right? Talking with our brethren shouldn't be a problem - we would find out what was going on, and we would get to talk with a sibling."

Tao stared at hir knees. "We'd split up, thinking it would be better to cover more ground that way, and we would get to explore more of the area. Me and Takeo were the ones that found the demon - they weren't any of our brethren. They were just able to think, just able to plan when was their best time to attack without being hurt.

"We both knew how to fight, but we hadn't tried since we'd first went through the barrier. Our weapons..."

Tao saw the kid straighten in the corner of hir eyes, and they must have been putting the pieces together. Good. "We were too busy trying to work out what to _do_ that the demon would have killed both of us if Boss hadn't been close by. We should have realised it then, but we were still hopeful that things would turn out well, that that was only one incident that didn't mean anything.

"Except... It kept happening. We kept finding demons that had used to be human, whose minds had been destroyed by the power they had. Killing them had been more a mercy than anything else." Tao frowned.

"We got overconfident. We thought that was how everyone fought and that we would be ready for them."

Tao exhaled. "The first time we fought a demon that had used to be an angel went completely differently." Tao closed hir eyes. "We'd tried to talk with them, but they wouldn't listen. They just wanted to have 'fun' with the humans, wanting to kill whoever they wanted and rule over the rest that they'd terrified into submission.

"Takeo and I thought we could take them. We'd fought everything else with no trouble, so another fight should have been the same.

"Instead, Takeo was flitted into a tree and-" Tao's throat closed up. There had been so much blood. "There hadn't been anything we could do."

"So. Yeah," Tao said, getting better control over hirself after a few deep breaths. "That's why I was looking out for you. I lost someone doing the same stuff you had."

"...And I don't have someone to lose."

"Just yourself."

The kid continued to stare at their soup.

Tao exhaled again, and then gave them a light nudge with hir elbow.

The kid jerked their head up to look at them.

"You should eat your soup before it goes cold," Tao murmured. Give them something else to concentrate on.

The kid nodded and then started to eat their soup.

When they were halfway through, the kid seemed to lean further into their bowl, like they were trying to see something inside it.

"What is it?" Tao asked them. There shouldn't be anything else in there.

"Is that what I look like?"

Tao blinked. "Yeah, but that's not a – oh, right." Tao reached over and picked up hir phone -Boss still hadn't gotten back to hir yet; they must still be in a lecture- and switched to the camera. "Okay, just hold still..."

The kid did, and Tao saw their little jerk when the camera came on, showing both their faces. "That's what you look like, kid."

"That's me...?" they said, lifting a hand up to pat their face as their reflection did the same.

Tao nodded. "Yeah. Can you see your ears?" It depended on the camera if their extra appendages showed up, and the kid leaned in, turning their head towards the camera.

They stared at themselves, frowning. Then their ears twitched, one of them going fully down and the kid jerked at that, their hand going up to pet their ear.

"I've never known what I looked like..." the kid murmured, and Tao's smile widened a little more.

"I'm not surprised." Seeing how there's no mirrors in Heaven. "And these are a vaguely recent invention." Cameras that were smaller than a palm, anyway.

The kid's eyes were starting to droop and Tao patted their shoulder. The kid jerked at that and Tao said, "You're starting to fall asleep, don't worry about it."

"Like Seira and Regis..." the kid murmured, opening their mouth for a yawn.

Oh, right, ze needed to contact the pair so they didn't think Tao had killed the kid. ...Though since they were demon hunters, the kid turning into a demon probably _was_ death to them.

"I'm just going to take your tray okay? I'll be right back." At the kid's nod, Tao took the tray and left, taking it to the kitchen. Cleaning it up didn't take long and when Tao returned, the kid was already curled up under the blankets again.

They were still awake though, stirring when Tao sat next to them. Tao's blinked when the kid reached out with both their arms.

Ze breathed a light chuckle. "Hugging is a little hard when I'm sitting up, kid. Hold on, I'm going to go under the blankets with you."

The kid nodded and Tao slipped in.

Once ze were in, the kid moved in and wrapped their arms around Tao as best as they could.

Which didn't exactly work, and Tao moved their head so the kid could but their arm under there.

"If you keep it there, your arm will feel funny in a little while," Tao warned, watching the kid start to frown when they were close enough to be breathing in each other's faces. "It's better if you keep that one down."

The kid nodded and then moved their arm away. "Is this warm?" they asked.

Tao smiled again. "Yeah, this is warm."

"Okay." The kid yawned one more time, their eyelids drooping before closing completely.

Tao checked hir phone again. [Can you tell Loyard and Landegre their friend is staying with us?] Though that could be on a permanent basis, if they even wanted to see the kid again.

But they'd been willing to see Boss without killing them, so there was hope they wouldn't completely reject the kid.

And after all that time, ze hadn't asked the kid what their name was.

Tao huffed, and the kid scrunched their face up at that, but didn't wake up. Ze could ask when they woke up again. It hadn't been that important compared to everything else.

Tao yawned, and damn, the kid must have passed it onto hir.

Well, they could do with the extra rest while ze waited for Boss' response. Ze closed hir eyes and slept.

xOx

There was a warm body next to Tao and ze patted the person, frowning. It had been ages since ze'd shared a bed with someone - ze'd only did it with Takeo, and Boss afterwards, and when Tao opened hir eyes, silver hair greeted them, not purple or blond.

What-?

Ze turned hir head towards hir buzzing phone and that must have been what had woken hir up.

Ze answered without checking who was on the other side - only one person had hir number. "Hey, Boss."

"Did I wake you?"

"S'fine," Tao said, clearing hir throat so hir voice didn't sound _quite_ as rough. "I was resting like you told me to," ze said, a small smile curving hir lips.

Boss sighed. "I would have preferred if I hadn't disturbed you at all."

"Heh." Tao sat up so the kid wouldn't have hir voice right in their ear. The kid started hugging hir thigh instead and Tao ran hir fingers through the kid's hair until they settled down again.

"I've informed Seira and Regis of the current situation. They're understandably concerned for their friend's well-being."

"We're fine, Boss," Tao said. "I'll tell you when you get back. But there's something you should know." That ze'd forgotten to put into the text, because it hadn't been _as_ important as everything else. "Our new houseguest looks a _lot_ like Muzaka's bunch."

"...I see."

"Yeah." The kid had stiffened, running their fingertips over Tao's thigh, curling their fingers over and over, almost if they were trying to scratch there but not putting any actual pressure there behind it. Hm.

"My lecture is finished for the day, so I'll be coming home shortly "so I'll be coming home shortly."

"Got it, Boss." Tao hung up and looked down at the kid. "Hey kid."

The kid rolled their head to look up at them, their eyebrows drawn in. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

Tao quirked a grin at them. "We haven't had the chance to properly introduce ourselves, and since you're no longer an angel, I can't call you that anymore. You're what, two? Three-hundred years olf?" They had to be, from the way they acted. "That makes you a lot younger than me."

"...Three."

Tao grinned. "So I was right."

The kid shook their head. "No. I'm three years old."

Tao's jaw dropped open as ze stared at them. "You're young by _human_ standards!" What the hell was Heaven _doing_ sending a newborn here? Making a newborn do _anything_? They should have just been out exploring Heaven's clouds, not going to the physical realm and trying to _kill demons_.

The kid jerked their head away, frowning at them. "I'm not young!"

"Yeah, kid, you _are_." How had Heaven changed so much? Who was in charge that thought it was perfectly fine to _do_ that? Human progressing quickly was one thing, but those were _humans_. Tao expected Heaven to never change, to still be exactly how it had been like when ze'd left when ze returned.

"Okay," Tao said, dropping the topic, "I won't call you kid then if you don't want me to - what _do_ I call you then?"

The kid's expression froze, and dammit, what _else_ had Heaven been doing?


	11. Part 11

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine," Tao said. "I'm Tao, by the way." Since if they were asking for the kid's name, it was good if they also gave hir own.

The kid didn't say anything their face a little blank. "I don't have a name," the kid said. "That's why I was sent here. If I could kill as many demons as I could here, then...I would earn my name."

Anger flared in Tao, boiling hir blood. "And you thought if you came here you would be changed into a demon forever." Okay, ze needed to go back to Heaven and punch whoever was the Lord in the fucking _face_. How could They make angels think that? How could They make angels _do_ that?

"They said I was created just for coming here without changing but-" The kid stuttered to a stop and wrapped their arms around Tao's legs again as they wrapped their wings around themself. "My chest feels weird. It's hard to breathe."

"It's all right, kid," Tao said, "I think you're feeling sad." Ze put a hand on the kid's wing, only putting enough power there so the kid could feel it.

The kid didn't pull away, their wing trembling, but they didn't push into the touch either, so Tao just kept hir hand there.

"Sad," the kid repeated, their voice hitching. "Why does this body keep doing things?"

"It tells us when we need something, or if we want more things," Tao murmured. "Like I said, it'll take a while to get used to." And Tao hadn't gone through the same things the kid had at the start.

"There's - a lot to get used to." The kid sniffled, their body trembling and Tao let them cry it out.

xOx

M-21 had left a wet patch on Tao's thigh. From their tears. They dabbed at the spot with a finger, feeling the difference between the dry area and the wet spot.

"How are you feeling?" Tao asked, their hand still on M-21's wing.

"Sleepy," M-21 said. But not in the same way they'd felt before they'd fallen asleep. Their body wasn't trying to force them to sleep.

"Do you feel as sad?"

Did they? Their body was under more of their control again, and the tightness in their chest had lessened, so they shook their head.

Tao smiled. "That's good." Then they stretched, and M-21 heard a couple of cracks. Seeing how everything else was weird about these bodies, M-21 didn't think much of it. They would find out about it soon and Tao would tell them about it.

"We should change," Tao said, getting out of bed.

M-21 frowned at the not-warmth that curled under the blanket when Tao moved. Cold? "Why do we need to change?" They'd never needed to in Heaven.

" _I_ need to change because my clothes are dirty, and you need to change because your rob got wet and no-one wears those in public anymore. You'd get some weird looks from people and draw attention."

Was that bad? …Oh, humans could see them now when they had this form.

Tao picked up some of the clothes they'd brought in earlier. "These are Boss'; they should fit you better since I'm smaller than you. Boss likes wearing suits, but we can go shopping at some point so you can pick out what you want."

M-21 studied the clothes in Tao's hands. "What I want." What did they want? A name. That had been all they'd wanted. Their robe had been given to them so they hadn't needed to choose anything. "Those are fine."

"They're also not yours," Tao said, their mouth quirking up a little at the corners. "It'll feel better if it's something that fits you; this is just for the moment."

Oh. They...could try. M-21 nodded and changing out of the clothes and into the new ones was strange. The clothes were more constricting, but they weren't as heavy, didn't drag down at them as much.

While M-21 studied themself in the mirror, Tao changed into different clothes. M-21 had seen a number of humans wearing similar clothes to what they were wearing, but all the buttons hadn't all been done up at their neck or their wrists. Tao had frowned when they saw their mark.

"It's the mark of my batch," M-21 explained, expecting them to ask.

"And everyone has these?"

M-21 nodded. "So we know who comes from which batch."

Tao's frown deepened at that, and that must have been another difference between their Lords.

"You don't have one, do you?" M-21 said, their voice small. They hadn't had a good look at Tao's wrists yet, but from the way they had reacted…

"No," Tao said, shaking their head. They continued helping M-21 put on their clothes, and M-21 stayed quiet, concentrating on that.

"Okay," Tao said, standing back once all the clothes were on, "how does that feel?"

"Strange." But that was starting to become normal. The clothes weren't as heavy as their robes, and their feet weren't as cold anymore. They peered down and would have lost their balance if Tao hadn't caught them by the balance.

"Heh, standing like that takes a while getting used to."

"So does everything else," they muttered as they wiggled their toes, _feeling_ the flex at the same time they saw their toes move from inside the socks.

"Next up," Tao said, holding M-21's hands in their own and lifting them up to about chest height, "is walking. I noticed you tended to hover around everywhere, so with this, you need to pick up your feet and move them."

Everything needed so many actions and so much multitasking, but M-21 frowned as they concentrated, taking one foot and trying to move it. They gripped Tao's hands when they tilted to the side and Tao stayed standing, keeping them upright as M-21 placed that foot down.

Tao nodded. "That's right. You have to move a little faster so you don't lose your balance."

That sounded doable and M-21 took another step while Tao backed up another to keep the space between them.

"How did you learn this yourself?" M-21 asked, frowning. All three of them would have had to learn this together.

"Heh. We had a lot of trees around us so could get support from them."

So that was it. With every step M-21 took, it became easier to do, until Tao lowered their hands and M-21 could walk by themself.

"Okay, you keep practicing, and I'll get changed myself." M-21 nodded, watching their own feet as they walked. "Though you need to keep your head up so you don't walk into a wall."

Oh. M-21 lifted their head. But then how would they be able to know where their feet were going if they didn't look at where they were placing them? Multitask. They would get used to it.

"Think you can walk to the kitchen?" Tao asked, and when M-21 turned their head Tao was already in a new set of clothes, the clothes they had been wearing bunched up in their arms. How had they done that so fast? Though with them, Tao had needed to show them how to put everything on and where their limbs went.

"I think so." Tao stayed close to them as M-21 walked, and M-21 kept a hand on their elbow, gripping it on the times they miscalculated.

It was harder to breathe by the time they reached the kitchen and Tao lead them to a chair. "Sit there for a second while I get everything sorted out."

M-21 nodded, leaning back on the chair. Having a physical body was _hard_.

It didn't take long for Tao to come back with their arms empty of clothes and M-21 watched them pour water into a cup.

"When you're drinking, you definitely shouldn't talk at the same time," Tao advised as they placed it in front of them.

This time they would listen to what Tao said. M-21 wrapped their hands around the cup, making sure they slipped their fingers into the handle and gripped it like they remembered they should with Seira's cup.

They were able to pick it up this time with it not sliding between their hands and M-21 brought the edge of the cup to their lips.

"Don't tip it too much or else it'll go up your nose."

...Why was everything in a human body so _close_ to each other that they ended up interfering with each other?

The water was opposite from the food Tao had given them earlier, cold and not as thick. They could feel it slip down their throat and a shiver went through them as they drank.

They stopped drinking when their body started demanding air again and they gasped when they finished. They were wide eyed as they got as much air in their body but...it felt good.

And eating was as strange and as different as Tao had said. Trying to explain the different sensations, just with the temperature and how it felt when it went down their throat... No wonder Tao hadn't been able to explain it that well.

One of the papers that hung by the door started to glow and M-21 stood up, one hand braced on the table as their skin tingled. They looked at Tao, who smiled at them.

"It's an early warning system," Tao said. "Boss set them up - it's so we know if someone's trying to flit in, and also so we know to stay out of _there_ -" Tao gestured to a circle in the floor close to the door. "-to make sure there isn't an accident." They winced.

The shape on the paper (ward? M-21 was too far to be able to read it) stopped glowing and between one blink and the next, Tao's Boss appeared in the spot Tao had indicated.

Tao's Boss turned to Tao just in time to catch the demon in their arms as Tao launched themselves at them.

"I thought I told you to stay out of trouble. And to rest," Tao's Boss said, pressing his forehead to Tao's just enough to touch before puling away.

"I'd _tried_ to, but some things just happen," Tao said with a laugh. "And I'm mostly healed up now."

M-21's stomach felt strange at those words, and they frowned, putting a hand there. What did that feeling mean?

"Mm? Kid?" Tao walked away from their Boss and touched M-21's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

* * *

Can't believe I spent about 6k just on M-21 getting used to their body, haha.


	12. Part 12

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"My stomach is squirming." Was it reacting to the water?

"Hm," Tao said. "When did it start doing that?"

M-21 frowned. "When you said you were hurt."

"I'm fine, kid," Tao said, smiling and waving a hand. "Like I told Boss, I'm mostly healed up, so I'll be back to normal soon."

The squirming in their stomach eased and M-21 nodded. "Okay." That… It was good to know that.

When M-21 turned to Tao's Boss -it was the demon they'd met before- the other demon dipped their head, flaring their wings out. "We haven't been formally introduced yet - I'm Frankenstein."

M-21 blinked at them. "It's really Frankenstein?" M-21 had thought they would have used a different name compared to the names humans knew them by.

Frankenstein straightened, folding their wings behind them again, and nodded. "It makes it easier for us rather than trying to remember which name we're currently going by, and so we don't end up slipping and calling each other by a name we'd used in the, say, fifteenth century. It's best to stay consistent."

Frankenstein didn't say anything else, watching them, waiting. M-21 felt their new ears fold over as they looked away from Frankenstein's gaze when they realised what they were waiting for. "I don't have a name." After seeing how Tao had reacted to everything else, they could guess telling them their placeholder designation wouldn't be taken well either.

"I see." Frankenstein studied them. "Would you like to pick one out for yourself?"

M-21's draw dropped open as they stared at Frankenstein. "I can do that?" They could choose their name? Choosing clothes was one thing - it would be difficult, but they could choose anything that fit. Choosing their _name_... To earn a name was a privilege, an honour. To just give themself a name...

But they were no longer an angel, no longer tied to Heaven. The hole in their head where their connection with the Lord was still there, proving that.

"Of course," Frankenstein said, taking off their jacket and hanging it up on the hanger next to the door.

M-21 looked between Frankenstein and Tao, who had started pouring their own drink. If they were able to say that so easily, then they must have chosen their own names. "How did _you_ choose?

Frankenstein chuckled, pressing buttons on a machine in the kitchen. "Please sit - there's no need to stand anymore." M-21 did that as Frankenstein fetched a cup from a cupboard. "I didn't. My Lord chose my name for me."

"And Boss chose mine," Tao said, pointing at Frankenstein.

M-21 looked between them again. " _You_ chose it?" they said, directing the question at Frankenstein. An angel chose another angel's name?

"It seemed to fit." Frankenstein peered at them over the cup in their hand. "Is that not how it happens in Heaven?"

Tao snorted before M-21 could answer.

"No..." M-21 said, shaking their head. "We're..." The words were trapped in M-21's throat, and they weren't sure about continuing. Not when they'd seen how Tao reacted.

"It's all right," Frankenstein said, "we won't be mad at what you tell us."

"I'm way more pissed off at the one who did this, _not_ you," Tao added, nodding. "This isn't your fault."

It wasn't? But maybe they should have known that there was something wrong if Tao had reacted so much to what was going on in Heaven?

M-21 ducked their head and took a deeper breath, feeling their heart settle down a little from that action. They would tell them, then. "We're given a designation, something that says what batch we were created in and the order." M-21 rubbed their mark out of habit and, Frankenstein and Tao followed what their hands were doing before looking up at M-21's face again. "We need to do a task for our Lord to earn a name. They're the one who names us."

"They are?" Frankenstein repeated, their voice soft. "Why not the angel who created you?"

M-21 stared at them, not understanding the question. "Our Lord created us. Who created you?"

"My Lord did," Frankenstein said, "but that was because Muzaka and I were the first angels our Lord had created. After that, Muzaka and I started creating angels and naming them."

So if Tao called Frankenstein their Boss…They had been literal, that Frankenstein was the one who had created them.

"But it does make me curious - who is the Lord right now?" Frankenstein asked.

...The Lord was the Lord. How were they supposed to answer that in a different way?

"Hm." Frankenstein sipped their drink. "That wasn't a very clear question." Their brow creased for a brief second before it smoothened again. "Have you seen their face?"

M-21 nodded. "When They gave me my task."

"Can you describe what they looked like?"

What their Lord looked like? A description wasn't needed for their Lord, because of the aura that surrounded them declared who they are, and M-21 would know their Lord because they knew who they had a connection with. What They looked like...?

"They have short, grey hair. Shorter than Tao's," M-21 said, trying to remember the features they'd seen. M-21 had been honoured that their Lord had created them in Their image when they had finally been able to see their Lord for the first time. "Grey eyes and They have a beard." M-21 indicated where it lay with a hand. They paused, seeing both Tao and Frankenstein frown.

"Hey, Boss," Tao said, turning to Frankenstein, "isn't that...?"

"It sounds like Crombell, yes," Frankenstein finished, their frown deepening. "They must have taken over when we left. Though that does clear a few things up…"

"It does?" M-21 said. And those two _knew_ their Lord? ...Who wasn't their Lord anymore, but they couldn't stop the habit of calling Them 'their Lord'.

Frankenstein sipped their drink again. "Crombell was one of the angels who worked alongside me. They weren't the most imaginative," Frankenstein said with a snort, "but they were very willing to do anything. That also explains why the demons never changed."

"Never changed?" M-21 echoed. "Aren't angels supposed to look like...you." They frowned, looking down at their claws. Of all the demons they had encountered, none of the demons had looked like them. They thought all demons were supposed to look like Tao and Frankenstein, with horns, black wings and spaded tails. Why were they different?

"It's something of something that we only found out when we came to the physical realm," Frankenstein said. "We all looked similar in Heaven, but when we passed through the barrier, the changes we went through changed depending on who had created us." Frankenstein nodded towards M-21. "Muzaka and I had different ways of creating angels, had different ideals that only showed themselves when angels of different creators passed through the barrier."

"If I were to make a guess, Crombell hasn't been creating new angels with their own ideas, but by looking through my own notes and using those instead, which is why the majority of demons look like they were of my own creations." Frankenstein peered at M-21, their face softening. "Your changes are far more reminiscent of Muzaka's creations than my own."

M-21 stared down at their claws again. Was that why they looked like they did, not because the Lord had made them differently from the others, but was using another angel's notes about how to make angels? ...They had more reason to believe Frankenstein, who hadn't lied to them than the current Lord, who seemed to have lied about everything they had ever said.

"But that now leaves the question of what Crombell is trying to _do_ here," Frankenstein said, starting to dig through the fridge after setting down their cup. "If Crombell is the Lord, there's not reason for Them to make angels to send them through here."

Tao looked at M-21 and M-21 shook their head, their stomach starting to hurt again. "I was only told that I was created for this task to kill as many demons here while staying as an angel and I would earn my name from that. I thought I was protecting humans."

"Well, kid, you were," Tao said, giving them a small smile. "A lot of the demons here _do_ hurt the humans here - you just ended up running across pretty much the only ones who weren't."

Even so, why would the Lord lie about everything else?

"What was the reason in trying to make angels that wouldn't change when they passed through the barrier?" Frankenstein mused. "They _know_ that was the entire reason for the barrier."

"Unless it's to prove you wrong, Boss," Tao said, crossing their arms. "You made sure that anyone who passed through barrier would change into a demon. If Crombell could make an angel that didn't change, that would mean They were a better creator of angels than you."

This time, Frankenstein snorted. "And They did it by using my own information to create it, though that would be some irony if They used my own work against me."

M-21's gaze lowered, and they stared at the table, at the items that were on top of it. Was that why they and their batchmates had been created and sent to the physical realm to turn into demons? To say They were better than Frankenstein?

M-21 had thought the Lord had made them for a reason, because they had been wanted. But if the Lord had just made them for... _this_ …

M-21 was having a hard time breathing again, their throat closing up.

"Hey, kid."

M-21 jerked at the light touch at their wings. Tao was standing next to them - they hadn't heard Tao approach.

"My apologies," Frankenstein said. "We were being insensitive."

M-21 shook their head. They wanted to know why the Lord had done everything They had, and Frankenstein and Tao would have a better idea, since they _knew_ the current Lord.

"I almost proved They had been able to do it," M-21 said, their hands curling into fists. Their batchmates had died, so many angels had been changed just for this. At least they had still changed into a demon; they could start seeing it as something positive.

"Hmm," Frankenstein said, watching them. "You were in this realm for a number of days, weren't you? Before transforming."

M-21 nodded. They hadn't kept a track of how long they had been staying.

"Then I would say that this had been a success."

M-21 stared at them, their tense muscles loosening. "But I turned into a demon."

Frankenstein hummed. "Do you know what happened to make you change into a demon?"

What had happened to make them change into a demon? ...They had rejected their Lord. That's when they had changed. "I rejected the Lord."

Frankenstein nodded. "Then it wasn't that your physical body had been changed by the barrier. It was your choice to leave the Lord."

It had been because of them? They'd chosen to leave the Lord and that was what made them change? Was that why it had happened?

"Me?" M-21 said. ...Well, yes, it was what they'd wanted, wasn't it? M-21 started rubbing their head again, like they could grip the missing link and pull it back into place.

"Hey, hey." Tao's words were soft as they took M-21's hand away from their head. "You'll hurt yourself doing that."

"But if I was a success, then why would the Lord keep sending more angels over?" M-21 said, trying to press their other hand to their forehead. "M-82 had still been in Heaven when I left. There was no reason to send them over if They knew I hadn't changed into a demon."

Frankenstein was frowning. "How would they have known you hadn't changed?"

They wouldn't… "But They wouldn't know that I hadn't either." So. The Lord would keep sending over more angels no matter if they had or hadn't change.

"No," Frankenstein said, "there has to be a way for Crombell to know. And...I'm sorry, I shouldn't keep talking about this since it's distressing you."

"I'm fine," M-21 mumbled, and Tao had both their hands now.

"If your head is hurting, I could give you something to help with the pain," Frankenstein said.

"It's not hurting," M-21 said, far too aware of the space instead of their head again. It didn't feel like everything else they'd felt with the rest of their body.

"Kid," Tao said, pulling a chair over somehow. They didn't take their hands away from M-21's and they focused on their touch. "Is this about the connection?"

M-21 nodded.

"Connection...?" Frankenstein said.

"Yeah," Tao said, turning their face towards Frankenstein. "Kid told me that Crombell's been connecting Themself with everyone They make. When the kid turned into a demon, the connection disappeared."

No. It had been ripped out, taking parts of M-21 with it.

"A number of the demons we'd seen recently had been clutching their head," Tao continued.

"...I'm not surprised - when we made the barrier, none of us had thought about what would happen if the angel was still connected with something in Heaven. With the amount of change that happens when an angel becomes a demon, then yes, the connection being severed isn't that surprising."

"Then..." M-21 said, finding their voice again, "it's not because the Lord is punishing me?" Not being turned into a demon, not losing their connection with Them?

"From what I would know so far, I wouldn't think so." When M-21 looked up, Frankenstein was leaning back on the kitchen counter, tapping their cheek. "It sounds like an unfortunate outcome to being turned into a demon."

"Hey, kid…?" Tao said, and M-21 turned their attention back to them. "What can Crombell do with that connection? Just know where you are, or is there more to it?"


	13. Part 13

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 shook their head. "They could talk to anyone They were connected to." Passing on messages weren't necessary when the Lord could talk directly with anyone They wanted to.

Tao was studying them. "Could They know what you know?"

"Of course," M-21 said, not sure why Tao had wanted to know so much after being so angry before. "They're connected with us and had access to everything we know."

Tao leaned back, hissing. "Shit. So They could know everything you do."

"Yeah," M-21 said, still not understanding. Why was that important?

"So They could know me and Boss are still alive and we still haven't found..." Tao frowned. "Uh, Boss...?"

"I wouldn't want to think that was the case," Frankenstein said, "but from what we've seen so far, that could be another reason."

"What is?" How could M-21 keep track of what Frankenstein and Tao were talking about? The two seemed to know what the other was thinking without saying it out loud.

"Crombell might not be creating angels to prove me wrong, but to stop us from finding my Lord," Frankenstein said. "If we find our Lord and then return to Heaven-"

"Then the Lord has to give up Their position to your Lord," M-21 finished. The current Lord was still an angel, so the original Lord should be able to take their position back with no complaints. Was _that_ why the Lord had been doing this?

"And it took Them how many millennia to find a way to make an angel that didn't change when they went through the barrier?" Frankenstein muttered.

"But unfortunately, there's no way to know for sure," Frankenstein said, their voice louder, their gaze going towards the rain that was pattering on the window.

"We know it's Crombell and They've been doing some really shady stuff since we left," Tao grumbled.

"...Though I will agree about that." Frankenstein narrowed their eyes at the window. "The weather really has been erratic since we've come here."

That...was a strange change in topic.

Frankenstein turned their attention back to M-21. "Do you remember what the weather was like when you came here?"

The weather? "It was raining." It hadn't started snowing until afterwards, but watching the water fall from the sky had startled M-21 enough that they'd just watched it for a while. Especially when they had to get used to the idea of the rain falling straight through them.

"Boss...?" Tao said.

"The barrier uses a lot of magic to change an angel to a demon," Frankenstein said. "Because of that, there can be signs of someone passing through because the weather has been affected.

Tao was staring out the window as well. "Yeah... Pretty much every time I bumped into a demon here, it's been raining."

Frankenstein and Tao shared a look. "It might be good to look around," Tao said, rubbing the back of their head, flapping their wings once before folding them again. "And," they added, waving their hands as Frankenstein sent them a look, "I'll try to keep out of trouble, as always."

When Tao and Frankenstein turned away from M-21, they straightened. Wait. Were the two going to leave them behind? "Hey..."

Tao turned at their voice, then smiled. "Just stay here, kid, all right? It shouldn't take us too long-"

M-21 shook their head. "I want to come." They _had_ to come. If another one of their batchmates had been sent over... They stood up from their chair.

"Kid, you barely know how to use that body-"

"And the best way for me to learn is by _doing something_." They'd learned that much while staying with Seira and Regis. They wouldn't have learned so much if they'd just watched Seira fight.

Frankenstein and Tao shared another look. Tao sighed and nodded. "Then stay in my sight, okay? Don't run off."

M-21 nodded and went to their sides. "I won't."

"And we're going to need to add shoes onto the list of the things to buy you…" Tao added.

xOx

The kid seemed fine with ill-fitting shoes, but then, they didn't have anything else to compare the feelings to. Tao had bundled them up in as many layers as ze could before the kid protested. The kid wasn't used to being wet _or_ cold, so it was better going overboard than not.

"How did you figure out your weapon was?" the kid asked, staring at their claws. "Do I need to know what it is first before I can summon it?"

"It was the same as when I summoned my sword," Tao told them, flexing hir hand to make sure ze was ready to summon hir whip at a moment's notice. "The biggest problem for us was getting used to it." A whip needed different movements compared to a sword, needing a flick of a wrist to get it to move in a certain way, and Takeo's sword had changed into a bow. In the first fight they'd discovered their new weapons, Takeo had used it as a staff rather than trying to work out how to use the arrows.

"I don't think you _have_ a weapon, not if you've tried and nothing happened," Tao told them. "When we were fighting Muzaka's demons, they weren't using weapons either – they were using their claws to fight. I think they were focusing their power into their hands and ripping through the air with a swipe of a hand." Tao emulated the way ze remembered the other demons fought to show the kid.

The kid continued to stare at their hands, and Tao kept a hand on their shoulder to make sure they didn't wander off by accident. But the kid didn't need hir guidance that much, keeping close, which was a good sign.

"I wouldn't point those at your face if I were you," Tao warned, keeping hir senses open, trying to sense for any disturbances. "You might take your face off."

"Ah, sorry!" They swivelled their hands so their claws pointed towards the ground.

Tao patted the kid's shoulder. "It's fine. We can go to the park or somewhere else if you want to practice." Ze could be worried about nothing, that it was just raining and it had nothing to do with the barrier and another demon hadn't been made. But it was far better to check than not.

"I thought we were looking for another-"

"Ah!" The kid blinked, and Tao breathed a chuckle, leaning a little on the kid's shoulder. "People can hear you now," Tao murmured. "Talking about demons in public is a little weird."

"Oh." The kid nodded. "All right, I won't say it again." They paused, glancing at Tao. "But what do I call them instead?"

Tao gave them a shrug that was more a stretch of their spine as they flexed their wings. "Our siblings would work." It was true.

The kid nodded again. "I thought we were looking for our sibling?"

"We are." Tao swept another glance around them and didn't see any wings or feel any use of power. "But Boss and I aren't that sure if our sibling even came through. It was just a guess."

"But if our sibling _is_ out there..."

Tao smiled at their worried their face. "Then we'll keep looking." The kid shouldn't have to fight. Tao didn't want to the kid to fight at all.

xOx

They didn't find anything. They'd been walking for a long time and neither of M-21 or Tao had seen or sensed any demons.

The scents wafting from the restaurants and other buildings had caught M-21's attention a few times, but eventually they stopped turning their head towards the new smell, concentrating on what they needed to do.

"I think it's just a rainstorm," Tao said, giving M-21 a cup of a hot drink that M-21 hadn't been paying to while they'd kept watch. "We should have felt _something_ by now."

M-21 nodded, letting the warmth of the drink seep into their hands. "Can we practice to see what weapon I have?"

Tao chuckled, one corner of their mouth curling up. "Can you even move your fingers?"

They flexed their fingers, the digits moving a little better now that they weren't so cold. "...Yes."

"Just." Tao brushed M-21's wing with their own. "We can try for a couple of minutes in the park if you want; it could warm us up some more before we go back home."

xOx

M-21 stared down at their claws, the sharp points poking out of their gloves. They had to focus their power into their hands and then move their hands. It was almost exactly what they did for their sword.

But that no longer worked. They'd tried that enough times already to know it didn't work. Their hand stayed empty, no matter how much they wanted it.

"Sorry, kid," Tao said, standing a little distance behind them. "I only know what Muzaka's demons did - I couldn't ask them _what_ they did."

"It's all right." It was better than knowing nothing at all. Tao had seen the other demons slash down with their claws, so they would try that.

M-21 fisted a hand and flexed it, trying to warm up their hand enough so it would move in the way they wanted. When it was warm enough, M-21 stared at one of the trees in front of them and slashed their hand at it, in the same way Tao had shown them.

Nothing.

They breathed out, their breath misting in front of their face, trying to calm down whatever their body was doing again, their heart beating harder and making blood thrum faster through their body. Was that a good thing? They would ask Tao afterwards.

M-21 tried a second time, bringing more power to their hand, but as soon as they slashed, nothing happened, not even a small breeze disturbing the falling snow.

"It's all right," Tao said, patting their shoulder. "It takes a while to get used to."

"But I want to know how to do it _now_." If there was a fight, they needed to know what to do instead of flailing around.

"Demons!" someone roared and M-21 whirled around at the shout, trying to find the source. It was hard to pinpoint but -

M-21 saw themself.

They stared at the angel hovering above the snow, with their grey wings, grey hair and sword in their hand. The angel's hair was the same length as their own. M-21 had only seen their face clearly once when Tao had shown them, but the angel's face looked like what they'd seen.

What - what was going on? Were they imagining that?

"Kid... How many of you looked like you?" Tao whispered.

"None." No-one in a batch looked like each other or from other batches. That was what the Lord had made sure to do every time, that they all looked different from each other.

"Who are you?" M-21 called out to the angel, hoping they wouldn't attack straight away.

The angel drew back their sword as if they were about to charge. "I'm from the M-21 batch."

 _What_? That - that wasn't possible. That batch _didn't exist_. Batches were named by letters, not by name and -

The angel disappeared.

" _Move_!" Tao yelled, and M-21 flitted away at the order, drawing power into their hand, but their sword and no weapon at _all_ still didn't appear.

The angel had flitted to where M-21 and Tao had stood, the snow swirling underneath them from where they'd slashed across.

That was wrong. That wasn't something that was learned from the Lord.

That was something M-21 had learned from the physical realm. The angel shouldn't _know that_.

There was no time to talk. The angel disappeared again.

"Ggh!" When M-21 reappeared, Tao had flitted to where M-21 had been standing, not away, and their whip was around the angel's neck.

Tao flitted away again when the angel slashed at them, and no. It wasn't making any sense. Everything M-21 knew, everything they'd learned in the physical realm, this angel knew as well.

"You won't beat us," the angel said, glowering at both of them as they swept upright again.

"Why not, angel?" Tao said, summoning their whip to them again.

"If you do kill me-" The angel gripped their sword tighter. "-there are more of us. We won't allow you to attack Heaven!"

A batch was usually at least one-hundred individuals. If that many angels attacked at once...


	14. Part 14

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

There wouldn't be anything they could do against those numbers, even if those angels didn't know how to fight. But they would.

The angel disappeared again, and M-21 flitted away to a small distance away from where they had been standing, just enough to stay out of the sword's swing.

They had it just right, and when the angel reappeared next to them, M-21 leaped at them, _trying_ to use their claws. The power fizzled away before anything materialised.

It was still enough to be able to grab the angel, and the angel's eyes widened as M-21 drove them to the ground. The angel narrowed their eyes a second later, and M-21 flitted away as they heard Tao roar something.

They'd flitted away just in time - the angel had stabbed through where M-21 had been.

Tao cracked their whip at the angel's hand, causing them to drop their sword and-

Sliced through the angel's neck with their whip, black wisps trailing behind where the whip had been.

M-21 watched the angel dissolve into light, not going limp in the way M-21 had gotten used to with demons. It was like they were frozen like that, trapped in that position as their body disappeared.

"Kid, are you all right?" Tao strode away from where the angel had lay, going to M-21.

"You killed them," M-21 said, their voice faint to their ears. That was what it looked like when an angel died. Why had they killed them?

"We don't have _time_ ," Tao said, touching their wing with their own. "You heard them - they were part of a batch-"

M-21 looked away at that reminder, their hand going to their mark. They couldn't touch it like they wanted, their glove too thick and they couldn't pull the sleeve back easily either. Why had the Lord made an angel like that?

"-and that means there are more of them." Tao stepped closer, placing a hand on M-21's shoulder. "We can't talk with them like I did with you."

Something appeared in front of them and M-21 jerked, trying to draw power again, but it was Frankenstein, holding their hands up at Tao's raised whip.

Tao relaxed at the sight of them, dismissing their whip. "Boss..."

"Are you two all right?"

"Had a bit of a shock," Tao told them.

"Yes?"

Wait. They shouldn't... M-21 backed out of Tao's hand, shaking their head.

"I think...Crombell might have cloned the kid," Tao said, though they gave M-21 a small frown. "Hey, kid, it's all right."

"It's not." It wasn't. "I shouldn't stay with you." M-21 backed up another step when Tao tried to get closer again. "That angel knew what I did. They wouldn't have learned that in Heaven." It had to be them. Heaven had to know what they knew somehow.

"Kid," Tao said, their voice soft. They reached out, but M-21 shook their head, flapping their wings at them.

They should get away. If the Lord knew what they did, if they stayed with Tao and Frankenstein, they would make things worse. M-21 didn't know how, but they just knew they _would_. Their heart was thudding in their chest again, and M-21 wanted to _run_.

"Child," Frankenstein said, and there was something in Frankenstein's voice that made M-21 look at them. There was no anger in Frankenstein's face. "Are you still connected with the Lord?"

M-12 prodded at where the connection was, shaking their head before they checked. They knew what being connected with the Lord felt like, and the hole in their head was still the same. They would _know_ if they were connected with the Lord again.

"Then you don't need to worry. Crombell may have taken information you learned when you were an angel, but you're no longer an angel, are you?"

No, they weren't...

Frankenstein opened their arms, spreading out their wings and M-21 glanced between Tao and Frankenstein. Tao gave them a small smile and a nod and it was an invitation for M-21 to go closer.

They should still leave. Frankenstein could be wrong; they could still be telling the Lord something without realising it.

But...they didn't want to be alone.

M-21 took a hesitating step forward, testing if they really wanted to do it. It was a small relief to do so, and neither Tao or Frankenstein moved away.

M-21 took another step, then another, and then they were in Frankenstein's arms, Frankenstein enveloping them in both their arms and wings.

They wrapped their arms around Frankenstein, clutching at their jacket. 

xOx

There was no way the three of them would have enough power to fight one-hundred angels at once, if that was even the number that Crombell had made. They could have made more.

Maybe if Crombell sent the new batch one by one it would be doable, but if that one angel had been a test and Crombell sent the rest of them all as one afterwards...

Boss was still hugging the kid and Tao couldn't see any part of them except for their feet, Boss having wrapped them up into their wings entirely.

Boss shared a look with Tao and Tao nodded.

Tao walked over and Boss raised a wing, allowing Tao to duck into the embrace as Boss stepped back.

"Wha-?"

Tao wrapped the kid up in hir own arms and wings. "Boss just needs to do something right now, kid, don't worry."

"Okay..."

Tao petted the kid between the ears and the kid melted a little in their arms, leaning into the touch. Good. They were responding to it.

Boss walked a few steps to where Tao had killed the angel and extended their wings, raising a hand.

The hair at the Tao's neck rose at the feeling of magic in the air as black tendrils spread out from Boss' feet, scoring a ward into the snow and mud, leaving the space between them untouched.

The kid stiffened and turned to watch Boss as the sky darkened above them.

"They're sealing the barrier," Tao explained before the kid could ask.

It wasn't long until the weight of magic eased. When Boss lowered their arm, the tendrils disappeared, leaving the remnants of the spell in the slush.

And it was raining again.

It only lasted a few seconds before it started snowing again, the dark clouds brightening.

"I didn't," Boss said, turning around and shaking their head as they walked back towards the two of them. "I was only able to strengthen the barrier to make it harder for others to pass through, but not seal it off. I can't."

"Boss...?" Tao said, frowning. That didn't make any sense. They couldn't have forgotten how to, right?

Boss gave them a tight smile. "I was an angel when I helped make the barrier."

Well, yeah. Tao knew that...

Oh.

Boss wasn't an angel anymore. They didn't have the same power that resonated with the barrier to seal it off.

Shit. 

xOx

M-21 listened to the other two while still trying to work out their own thoughts. They had to help fix this. It was because of them... It was because of them the Lord had made _multiples_ of them and was trying to kill all of them. If it hadn't been for them, then...

No. Even if the Lord - if Crombell hadn't created the M-21 batch -the very thought of that churned M-21's stomach, like their body was trying to crush it out of existence- Crombell would still be sending angels to the physical realm one way or another.

They'd quickened the process, but Crombell was still doing what They'd been doing from the start.

"So..." Tao said, "there's no way to properly seal it off then. Not unless we kidnap an angel and somehow grab their power to seal the barrier - we wouldn't be able to convince them to help a bunch of demons in the time we had."

They needed someone with angel powers. Pure angel powers, unlike what they had now.

"No, we wouldn't. That being said," Frankenstein continued, "the barrier was never made in mind to change that many angels at once." They started to pace, their arms folded as they tapped their chin.

"...Boss?" Tao said. "What do you think would happen?"

"We never tested what would happened since we didn't expect that many to leave at the same time."

They stopped, taking deeper breaths. "If I were to guess, I would think the barrier would only transform parts of all the angels, and I would rather not think about the effect of that if they made it here. Another possibility is the barrier would merely collapse under the strain."

Then all the angels would get through.

"...Uh, Boss?" Tao's hand stopped. "If the barrier falls, that could mean Crombell can get through too. That..." Tao exhaled. "That might have been the reason why Crombell was sending angels and trying to make angels that didn't change - They didn't think They could get through the barrier without changing Themself."

"That may have been Crombell's original intent." Frankenstein started moving again, their wings rustling. "And without the barrier, They would be free to come here as They please. If They found-"

M-21 froze, sensing power hurtling towards them and both they and Tao flitted out of the way.

One of the trees behind them thudded, a fresh gash in its trunk as the snow clinging to the leaves fell in one clump.

M-21 whirled around, their hands tingling as they tried to find the angel-

It wasn't an angel.

Seira and Regis skidded to a halt, their auras lashing. Their auras dimmed for a second when the two saw them.

"Angel...?" Seira said, and M-21's ears flattened while they nodded. They were the angel they knew. Just...different.

Regis glowered at Tao, the huge lance solidifying in his hands. "What did you _do_?"

"Nothing," Tao said, waving their hands around face height. "I didn't do anything to change them."

Were they blaming _Tao_ for what happened? M-21 shook their head. "I did it," they said. "I rejected the Lord and..." M-21 stared at the two as something clicked, and then glanced at Frankenstein.

Frankenstein tilted their head, but of course, Frankenstein wouldn't know, would they?

"You told me you had angel powers," M-21 said to Seira. They heard the sharp exhale from Frankenstein.

Seira nodded, through a frown tugged at her lips as her eyebrows drew in together. "Yes. Is that important?"

"Very important," Frankenstein said. "There's a chance the barrier between this place and Heaven could collapse if we aren't able to seal it off with angelic powers."

"And?" Regis said, the lance not disappearing from his hand. "That sounds like it would be good for humans."

"It's not," M-21 said, shaking their head. "It's not just angels that would come through, but the Lord as well and-" Their words locked up in their throat.

"You know what I'd been finding out since I came here," they whispered, their hands curling into fists. "My batchmates had been sent here to turn into demons; I'd been lied to about everything of this task. The Lord didn't _care_ about us and was just using us as tests!" M-21's voice rose until it cracked, their chest squeezing around their lungs and making it hard to breathe.

"The Lord _isn't_ who's supposed to be there, but if They come here and find the actual Lord and kill them..." M-21 squeezed their eyes shut. "It would keep happening. The Lord would keep creating more angels for whatever They felt like and...who knows what They would do to this realm." Would they start making a mix of humans and angels, just because They could?

"The real God is...here?" Regis said, his eyes wide.

"Yes," Frankenstein said, nodding. "We-" They indicated themself and Tao with both a sweep of an arm and a wing. "-have been trying to find Them for millennia."

"How do you know They're here?" Seira asked, her scythe head lowering a little.

"Because it's the only place They _could_ be, and I refuse to think that They would leave for _Crombell_ -" Frankenstein's lip twisted. "-to take over. They're not dead."

This time, a small smile curved Seira's lips. "You have that much faith in Them."

"Of course."

Seira and Regis shared a look. Regis' lips thinned, and he glowered at Tao and Frankenstein. "If this is a trap-"

"It's not, we swear," Tao said, shaking their head.

"On what."

At that, Tao's face blanked for a second. "I would say all the clothes on my back because you don't know me well enough to know what's important to me and being cold and wet sucks. But okay, the kid's life." Tao patted M-21's head. "I swear on the kid's life."

Regis exhaled and Seira studied M-21.

M-21 had no idea what they were talking about.

Seira dipped her head, walking closer. "If you're swearing on...their life, then we'll help you."

Frankenstein bowed, their wings flashing out. "Thank you." 

xOx

M-21 couldn't stay still as they watched Frankenstein talk with Seira and Regis away from them and Tao. They wanted to _do_ something, move in some way but it also didn't feel as if that would be enough. It was like their body was filled with power that needed to be let out _right away_.

"I think you're anxious, kid," Tao said, their wing wrapped around M-21. "And I don't blame you."

"Are you?" M-21 said, looking them over. Tao seemed still, their breathing even, but M-21 had started to understand that their bodies could do something that wasn't so easily seen from the outside.

"Yeah," Tao muttered, their gaze steady on the other three. "This has to work. We don't have anything else we can do if it doesn't."

Oh.

Frankenstein stopped talking with Seira and Regis and they backed off from each other. M-21 straightened, trying to make sure they could see everything that was happening.

The three moved away from Frankenstein's ward and stood an equal distance away from each other.

M-21 saw the tendrils reaching out from Frankenstein first, and then Seira's scythe and Regis' lance appeared. They were different from before though, looking like they were made out of condensed light.

With each second that passed, the tendrils grew thicker and wound their way towards Seira and Regis, leaving marks in the slush.

Seira and Regis' auras were also expanding around them, first going towards each other and then moving inwards.

All of M-21's attention was on watching what was happening, a dull awareness of the weight of magic increasing as the trees started to shake, depositing the snow they held.

It was raining again already and when Frankenstein's tendrils touched Seira and Regis' aura, it seemed to thin out, Seira and Regis' aura taking over it and running through the path Frankenstein's aura had traced out.

The mark being left behind was more intricate than the previous one, the lines smaller and winding across each other in designs M-21 had never seen before.

It glowed, almost as if with its own light and the weight of magic continued to grow.

The auras disappeared and Frankenstein, Seira and Regis slumped, panting, their breaths coming out in bigger gusts.

Frankenstein span to M-21 and Tao. "You have to go to the barrier!"

M-21 jerked at Frankenstein's sharp tone; they'd never heard Frankenstein talk like that before.

"We made safeguards - it doesn't matter at the moment." Frankenstein shook their head, sweeping their hair away from their face. "We can't seal the barrier because there are angels in there _now_."


	15. Part 15

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

Contains: violence.

I didn't post anything yesterday because what I _had_ written just wasn't flowing in how I liked, so I redid the outline I had.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

" _Fuck_ ," Tao hissed. They jumped up, flapping their wings to keep themselves in the air and then dashed skywards.

M-21 flapped their wings, getting used to flapping harder to go where they wanted.

Frankenstein didn't moved to follow when they were in the air. "Frankenstein?"

" _Go_ ," Frankenstein insisted, even though they flapped their wings. "I need to be _here_ as soon as the barrier is clear to close it!"

Right. If Frankenstein had to fly back first after helping them in the barrier, more angels could have entered again by then and they would have to fight all over again. M-21 wheeled around and flew upwards.

M-21 couldn't see Tao in the worsening rain. They climbed higher, flapping their wings harder, but they were gone.

They would have to find where the barrier was themself. ...Crombell had never told them how to find the barrier, how to go back to Heaven once their task was done. But they were never meant to complete it, were they?

The rain was falling faster, and M-21's eyes kept squeezing shut at it, making it impossible to see. So they kept them closed, not bothering to open them again when a large gust of wind blew past. They would have to trust their senses.

The weight of magic was everywhere in the sky, surrounding M-21, and they had no idea where to go. Had Tao just gone straight up until they reached it?

...No. That wasn't it. While M-21 could sense magic all around them, even with the wind and the rain there was a warmth on their right side and they turned towards it until the warmth was radiating on their front. It had to be that. That must have been what Tao had followed.

M-21 flapped their wings and flew in that direction. Flitting there would save time, but if they overshoot and it would waste too much time trying to reorientate themself to where the barrier was. If they had still been an angel, they wouldn't have known there _was_ heat, let alone be able to follow it.

They kept going, the heat getting stronger even as the rain and wind worsened. It hurt their ears, feeling as if the wind was trying to both blow them off course and to push the rain right into their ears.

And then it was all gone, M-21 diving through a bright space. They must have reached the barrier. It was colder on the inside and they shook their head, trying to get the water out their ears, feeling their hair slap against their head with the movement.

They wiped their hand over their face to get rid of more water. They opened their eyes and jerked back. Two angels were flying towards them. Two more angels of the M-21 batch. M-21 had just enough time to see them before they disappeared.

What their clones were doing was almost the same as their charge - there was no thought behind it. It was just that was what they knew as the 'best' way to attack first, and they would keep doing that every time. It made them easy to predict.

M-21 flitted a short distance away, and leapt at the angel that appeared first, drawing power to their claws. M-21 didn't bother trying to use the slash attack, not when it was too likely they would fail. They would waste time trying to recover from that, and that was something they didn't have, not against two opponents.

It was enough to send the angel sprawling and before they landed (if the barrier even _had_ a 'floor') M-21 slashed at their chest, keeping the power in their claws.

They felt resistance as their claws went through the angel's body, saw the trail of power their claws left behind. It was enough to hurt the angel, maybe kill them, but there was no time to check. It gave them enough time to attack the other angel and that was what mattered. M-21 flitted away to a safe distance, and as soon as they reappeared, they whirled around, trying to find the other angel.

The other angel was staring at the angel M-21 had attacked, their sword lowered. Frozen. From M-21's new angle, they could see the first angel hovering in the same position M-21 had left them, no blood in sight, but their chest wasn't piecing back together either. The angel was glowing at the edges and where M-21 had attacked them, and the glow was getting brighter.

So they'd been able to kill that angel with that blow.

Before the second angel could collect themself, M-21 flitted next to them and drove their claws through the angel's chest, flaring their aura out.

The angel tried to twist around, but M-21 had flitted to a safe distance away, just in case.

It wasn't needed. The angel had started to disintegrate, dropping their sword and M-21 turned to fly deeper into the barrier.

Tao was fighting ahead of them, wreathed in their aura and surrounded by angels. Damn-!

It was hard to tell what was going on or how many angels there were in the confusion - everyone was flitting from one place to another as they tried to keep up with Tao's movements. Tao was able to keep ahead, but they weren't able to attack. Every time they moved, an angel attacked before they could swing their whip.

If some angels had already flown by while Tao was fighting like that, more could do the same.

M-21's heart thudded harder at the sight, like something was trying to burst out of their chest, but M-21 kept a tight hold of that feeling, making sure it didn't consume them. They couldn't let their body distract them, not in a time like this.

M-21 flitted to the backs of some angels and tore through one's wing and shoulder as the angel turned towards them. The damage done, M-21 leaped at the next closest angel, just missing being skewered by their sword.

" _Kid_!"

M-21's new ears swivelled towards the yell as they lashed their aura at the angel, flitting away again before someone else attacked them.

" _Leave_!"

"No!" they roared back, almost losing their hold on the thing trying to explode from their chest. Whatever it was, it wanted them to do _do_ something, but M-21 clamped down on the feeling.

They would listen to Tao about the physical realm and what they were experience, but they wouldn't let them do this alone.

M-21 heard the crack of a whip and a cut-off scream and good, that meant Tao could attack now.

But this wasn't a hundred angels. Nowhere near it. It was only a handful at best, even if Tao had been able to kill a number of them already.

There had to be more coming. If someone didn't stop those ones when they first came into the barrier and were a smaller number, then all the angels combined could overwhelm them and some could slip past while the others were fighting.

M-21 ducked under a sword's swing and slashed up from the angel's stomach. M-21 backed off with a few powerful beats of their wings, panting from all the flitting and maintaining the power around their hands.

"Kid, _dammit!_

"There could be more!" M-21 called back, watching how Tao was fighting. Should they try and do this? They weren't the better fighter, not compared to Tao but-

"Far more!" one of the angels yelled just before Tao took them down with a crack of their whip.

Then they had to it. M-21 turned and flew in the direction the angels had come from.

"Don't die!" Tao yelled behind them, and M-21 nodded even though Tao couldn't see it. They didn't want to waste breath as they flew. It was a little easier to concentrate, now that they just had to fly instead of doing three things at once.

Their skin tingled as M-21 clenched a fist, and it still didn't feel right afterwards.

It didn't stop there, their whole body starting to tingle, like when Tao had first taken them out of the cold and into their warm house. M-21 glanced down at their hand and...it wasn't as solid as it had been a few seconds ago, their skin more translucent. The barrier was changing them back. If they went through the barrier completely, they could become an angel again.

They didn't want to.

Not after everything that had happened.

M-21 lowered their hand and focused on their surroundings instead, trying to see if there were any more angels there. They hadn't paid much attention to the barrier the first time they'd went through; they'd been focused on their task then and that was it, trying to through it faster so that they could get started and earn their name. They couldn't tell if it was any different from before.

It was taking them a while and had it really been this long? Was it longer because they were paying attention now? Or was it because there was more people, and the barrier had grown to accommodate them all?

M-21 jerked slightly when the expanse pulsated, the heat strengthening around them. That had to mean something. The light was swirling a little in the distance and M-21 bit their lip. Was that a sign the barrier was starting to collapse?

Something was forming ahead of them, a dark silhouette against the light of the barrier. Smaller silhouettes formed next to them, and M-21 prepared themself to fight.

They couldn't hesitate. Not after seeing Tao struggle against the other angels; if they could surprise these angels, that could give them a slight edge at the start before the angels realised what was happening.

Except... M-21 frowned at the one that was forming the fastest. They knew that shape, they were sure of it. An angel standing ahead above everyone else's, wide shoulders, and no hair.

No...

M-21's throat closed up as the angel stepped through into the barrier, but M-21 knew already who it was before they saw them.

M-24. 

* * *

I've written some more today, but this was a perfect place to end. :)

I was kinda wondering how obvious that this was going to be the final confrontation seeing how M-24 hadn't shown up earlier, haha.


	16. Part 16

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

Contains: violence and blood.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Why... Except M-21 knew why. There weren't that many of M-21's batchmates _left_ in Heaven. Only a handful. Maybe even less than that if more had been sent through after M-21. If M-21 had passed through unchanged, then that could be true of the rest of their batchmates, so the rest of them had to be tested.

When M-24 saw them, they halted, their eyes narrowing. "Demon!" they yelled, summoning their sword. "You dare try to attack us _here_?"

M-21's ears flattened. Dammit. They didn't want - they didn't want to do this. M-24 was their closest batchmate, the angel M-21 had known the longest. They'd always stayed by each other's side; the only time they'd been apart was when M-21 had finally been called to the Lord to be given their task. And now, M-24 couldn't even recognise them.

M-24's eyes widened slightly as the tip of their sword dipped.

"M-21...?"

Hah... M-21 nodded. It had been a long time since they'd heard their designation from a familiar person. It no longer brought the warmth it used to.

"I barely recognise you." That wasn't surprising, not when they were no longer wearing their robes, and their hat covered their hair. The only part of them uncovered was their face.

"The Lord told me you'd turned your back on Them," M-24 said, and M-21 clenched a fist, sucking a breath. Crombell had told them. Why would Crombell tell M-24, but not the rest of them? Was it because of what Crombell had learned from their connection? "I didn't want to believe... But I should have had faith in Them."

M-21 wanted to look away, but they couldn't afford to, not when more M-21 batch angels were coming through into the barrier. With each new angel, the heat increased around them.

If M-24 went completely through the barrier... M-21 hissed, focusing on them. "You'll turn into a demon!" If they could - they could warn them. M-24 could turn around and not lose the connection with the Lord. They wouldn't lose their mind.

"I won't." M-24's sword tip raised again.

"You weren't created for this!" M-24 had to believe them! "If you were, why do you think They made more of _me_?" M-21 flung a hand out to indicate the angels around M-24. "There would be no reason to if you wouldn't change!"

M-21 saw doubt flash across M-24's face. Yes! If they could just-! "Why would They make more of me if I'd turned my back on Them?" M-21 pressed.

M-24 shook their head, and M-21's stomach shrivelled up. No... Please. They didn't want to fight M-24...

M-24's tip of their sword rose again, their lips thinning. "The Lord said you would try to turn me against Them. I won't listen to you. When I finish this, I'll earn my name."

Just like M-21 had thought. They wanted to tell M-24 so much, that they'd gone through the same things, everything they'd learned since arriving in the physical realm. But they couldn't, the words staying on their tongue unsaid.

Earning a name was the most important thing to their batchmates, just behind serving their Lord. There would be no way to sway M-24's mind.

Their chest _hurt_ at the thought of what they had to do, already hurt at the other angels and demons they'd killed, some who'd known what had happened, others that hadn't.

M-21 gritted their teeth, ignoring the feeling as best as they could. They couldn't afford to be distracted by their body now. They flexed their hands before flitting to M-24's side. It wasn't what they used to do when they sparred against each other, but M-21 had to finish this _quickly_ to save energy to fight the other angels.

Another angel flitted in front of them, blocking their blow. Dammit-! They were surrounded in a blink of an eye, the angels with their swords raised to strike.

The M-21 batch would know how they would attack. Of _course_.

"Hold!"

The other angels didn't attack, and M-21 looked over their heads as M-24 turned to face them.

"You've learned a lot as a demon," M-24 said, their voice quiet. Their expression was blank, and M-21 never wanted to see it again directed towards them.

"I learned it as an angel," M-21 replied, hardly able to get their voice above a whisper. They'd had to. If they hadn't, then they or the people around them would have died.

"Leave them," M-24 said to the other angels, and M-21 blinked, not understanding what they were saying. "This is between us."

M-24 wanted to fight one-on-one, like they used to in Heaven. Like they'd been taught to.

The other angels didn't protest, backing off. They didn't move to fly off further into barrier either, watching both M-24 and M-21.

The tension in M-21's body disappeared, and their shoulders slumped from the suddenness of it. They had a chance. They could keep the angels from grouping with the others this way.

So long as the other angels didn't decide to fly off, but from the way the angels reacted to M-24, it seemed like they would listen to anything M-24 said and not think to do anything more.

M-21 could hope.

M-24 drifted a small distance away, the other angels moving back more to give them space. When they stopped, M-21 waited, watching them. Could they try flitting to behind M-24 again? M-24 knew that trick now, and would be more prepared for it. Damn.

"Aren't you going to summon your sword?" M-24 asked, frowning at them.

...Had M-24 been waiting for that?

After the fights they'd had with demons, waiting to make sure the other was ready wasn't something M-21 was used to anymore. It seemed like a waste of time. Especially since - "I don't have it anymore."

M-24's eyes widened, their wings rustling. "That was taken when you turned your back on the Lord?" Then their narrowed their eyes. "Or did you throw it away?"

"Hah." Something wanted to bubble up from M-21's throat, making their breathing hitch and they didn't know _why_. The situation was ludicrous and just so _wrong_ that their body must not know how to react. They clamped down on the feeling, like everything else.

"I see." M-24 flexed their wings, readying their sword. "There's no point talking with you."

"No," M-21 said, their teeth gritted, "there isn't." They couldn't change their batchmate's mind, and M-21 wouldn't back down, even though there was little chance of them surviving. They needed to kill as many angels as they could so the barrier wouldn't collapse.

M-24 still hesitated charging them, and M-21 had to take whatever advantage they could get. M-24 hadn't gone through attacking another batchmate before, not like M-21.

M-21 flitted above M-24, diving at them. It would give M-24 a chance to counter, but just maybe-!

M-24 swung their sword around them and M-21 flitted away again, trapping the growl in their throat. They had no weapon or magic to use against M-24 - nothing that would help them attack from a distance.

From the set of M-24's jaw, M-21 could see M-24 had steeled themself to attack properly now.

If they could force M-24 to let go of their sword, that would give them enough time to strike. They would be able to – get close enough to kill them.

It was getting harder to breathe, M-21's breath coming in short gasps as they drew their power to their hands again.

M-24 charged at them and M-21 flitted away, too used M-24's patt -

M-21 wheeled out the way of M-24's charge, and dammit, M-24 had flitted while still charging.

It had been too close. M-24 span around and M-21 climbed up, going higher to get out of the way of the strike. M-24 followed and M-21 was wasting too much energy, even though there was a high pitched tone in their ears that wouldn't go away.

Sucking in a breath, M-21 closed their eyes for a second and flitted behind M-24.

M-24 span around and M-21 caught their sword in their hands.

They could feel the edge of the blade press against their palm, but they wrapped their glowing hands around the sword and ripped it out of M-24's hand.

M-24 ducked out the way as M-21 dived at them. Dammit! It was too much effort trying to maintain everything, their back muscles aching from their constant tensing with their wings and after they'd already fought the other angels.

Their body was tiring. It was taking more effort to do the same things it had been doing before.

M-21 hadn't been able to kill one more angel yet and their body already needed rest.

But they could - "Argh!"

Electricity erupted from M-21's back, punching through their stomach and enveloping their entire body. They couldn't think, could barely breathe through the haze as their body screamed they pay attention to the _sword in their stomach_.

The angel lowered their sword with M-21 still on it and M-21 slid off it, spiralling towards the other angels, unable to flap their wings to slow their descent.

When they hit the floor, all the air in their body was punched out again.


	17. Part 17

**Summary** : It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it _was_ possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.

Contains: violence and blood.

* * *

 **Adapt to Live  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 couldn't move. Every part of them was demanding to pay attention at them, to notice what was happening that M-21 couldn't _think_. Everything was directed towards the demands of their body, and they struggled to breathe. It was like their body was trying to direct energy to make sure M-21 _knew_ it was hurt.

They couldn't move without smaller flares of attention demanding they _stop_ moving, threatening to hurt worse.

From the corner of their eyes, M-21 saw M-24 land to their level. Saw their blood trailing down M-24's sword and dripping to the floor.

"Was turning into a demon and possessing that body worth it?" M-24 asked, hovering closer. Their words faded in and out of M-21's hearing.

M-21 struggled to move, to _do_ something. They couldn't gather enough concentration to even _flit_.

"You're experiencing pain, aren't you? That's your punishment for turning your back on the Lord."

No... It wasn't. And M-24 was wrong. Pain was for telling the person when their body was hurt. But it was because of touch, Tao had shown them that. Everything was connected. Too much of one thing could hurt, but so could not having it all.

"You could take far more blows than this before."

M-21 knew that. When they'd sparred together, they would trade blows until they grew bored. Being stabbed meant nothing to a non-physical body, and the only thing that tired was their attention.

M-24 was stalling; they should have done the killing blow by now. M-24 didn't want to kill them. Neither did M-21, and they squeezed their eyes shut as M-24 drifted closer.

"Now you can't even move after one. Why did you possess that body if you can't use it?"

The attacks had never hurt because they'd never channelled their power into their swords. Not like Tao with their whip, and not like how M-21 had seen Frankenstein do. Not like how Seira and Regis summoned their weapons and _held_ the power in their hands, not just using power to call their weapon to them.

M-21's chest was roaring again, something struggling to unfurl from their heart and consume them.

Pain was there to tell them when their body needed something. And Tao had been telling them that everything their body did, it did for a _reason_ , and if it wanted to do something that could consume them whole, then they would let it.

M-21's power _flared_ in their body and they saw M-24 freeze. They _held_ onto the power, letting their power take over their body.

They couldn't do this for long, M-21 knew that much. Not when they were throwing _everything_ into the attack.

M-21 gritted their teeth, letting the hurt and anguish howl in their heart as they flitted far above M-24, out of the reach of their sword. "We _adapt_!"

M-21 flung their hand down, releasing the power rolling them, seeing their power as an extension of themselves instead of a tool.

The shockwave engulfed M-24 and some angels while others flitted away. Nothing was left when M-21 let go of their power, the attack fizzling out of existence. Just like the angels they'd attacked.

M-21 panted and wavered in the air, only able to beat their wings one more time before plummeting again.

They had no energy to slow their descent. They were empty, everything spent.

M-21 saw an angel flit next to them, their sword swinging towards them. They couldn't have dodged if they'd wanted.

Except something slammed into M-21, taking them out of the way of the strike.

"I've got you, kid," someone - _Tao_ murmured as they carried M-21. "Rest now, all right?"

They couldn't do anything else.

Everything moved in a haze, M-21 unable to concentrate on what was happening as Tao flitted from place to place. It was getting colder, lights brightening the edges of M-21's eyes.

"-get out of here."

What?

Tao's smiling face blurred into view. "Flitting out, kid."

Oh. Were the others-

M-21 sucked in a breath, shock at rain whirling into their face again.

Their body was starting to throb again, telling M-21 where it hurt again.

It was a little easier to breathe compared to before M-21 had entered the barrier. The wind had died down and as Tao flew down, M-21 could feel magic in the air, warming them up, something lighting the ground ahead of them. It was like being swathed in a warm blanket, not the prickling heat inside the barrier.

"Stay with me, kid, all right?" Tao murmured, adjusting how they held M-21.

They weren't going anywhere but M-21's heart _ached_. They'd killed M-24. They'd had to so the barrier stayed in tact, but the reasoning felt hollow.

Their breathing hitched, tears welling up in their eyes and M-21 gave the feeling free rein in their body. 

xOx

M-21 was lying on something. It was a little scratchy against their skin, but it was warm.

But...why was it scratchy against their skin? The clothes Tao had given them didn't feel like that..

When they opened their eyes, white surrounded them. White tiled ceiling, white bed with white sheets. They'd never been here before. Where were they…?

They turned their head to the window, watching the thick snowfall outside the glass. Did that mean the barrier was sealed?

"Hey, kid."

"Mmh?" M21 turned their head towards the voice, recognising it.

Tao was sitting next to them, leaning against the bed with an arm draped over M-21's

"Where...?" It was hard to speak, their mouth dry.

"You're in a hospital, kid."

A hospital?

Tao smiled at them. "It's a place where people go when they're really sick or injured to get better. You took quite a hit."

They had, hadn't they... M-21 concentrated on breathing, their stomach rolling around. It hurt, making it harder to breathe.

Their body wanted minimal movements, and M-21 listened to it, keeping still.

"Good job on learning how to attack," Tao said, reaching over to ruffle their hair. "I saw it."

They had? M-21 ducked their head, leaning into the touch.

"You need to learn how to block, but I can teach you, heh."

M21 knew how to block, but they had to learn how to do it with their new abilities. Had they done it against M-24's sword? M-21's breathing wavered at the thought of them.

"You okay, kid?" Tao asked, and M-21 shook their head. "Ah." Tao pulled themselves up to sit next to M-21.

M-21 exhaled, bracing themselves and then rolled over so they could wrap an arm around Tao.

Tao hummed, running their fingers through M-21's hair and curled a wing around M-21. They…they would be okay. Should be. If they thought about something else.

"The barrier...?" M21 asked as Tao gave them a cup.

"The barrier's fine," Tao said, holding the cup steady as M-21 drank from it. "It's in tact and all sealed up." Tao exhaled, glancing out the window. "There's a chance it could be forced open, but it's stable for now."

"And _you_ ," Tao said, setting the cup onto a nearby table when M-21 was done drinking. Tao tapped M-21's forehead with a knuckle. "Don't scare me like that! Running off by yourself."

M-21 wouldn't promise that. If a similar situation happened again, they would do the same thing as before.

Though next time hopefully not get as injured...

There must have been some of M-21's thoughts expressed on their face, because Tao's face softened into a small smile, and they chuckled, ruffling M-21's hair again. "Stubborn kid."

The door to the room opened and Frankenstein walked in, a number of books tucked under their arm.

"Boss!" Tao grinned and moved to get up.

"Sit." Frankenstein raised an eyebrow at them and Tao leaned back with a small laugh.

Why had...? M-21 glanced between them, trying to work out what part of the conversation they were missing this time.

Tao saw M-21's confused looks and they cleared their throat. "I wasn't able to get out the fight unscathed either, and Boss is insisting I move as little as possible."

"For good reason," Frankenstein said, closing the door behind them.

So if M-21 hadn't been there, Tao could have gotten off worse… They _had_ been helpful in that fight.

Frankenstein set the books beside the cup Tao had put down. "These are for you."

They were? M-21 glanced at the spine, reading the titles and... "Name books...?" They stared up at Frankenstein, their eyes wide. And those were for them?

Frankenstein smiled. "You will be here for a while, so I thought you might like to pass the time doing something productive."

M-21 wanted to reach over to pick the one at the top of the pile, but their body was already aching again. And Tao was in the way.

"You don't need to start straight away," Frankenstein said as Tao picked the top one up and started to flick through it, low enough that M-21 could see the names. "And you need to rest more than Tao does."

"If you don't like any of these," Tao said, looking at them, "I can introduce you to the internet and we'll start looking for a name you like there." Tao paused, their gaze drifting. "I'll introduce you to the internet _anyway_ , heh."

"I... Thank you," M-21 whispered, closing their eyes.

They would do this. They would find a new name for themself that they _wanted_. Their designation... M-21 had always known it was a placeholder until they were given their new name, but now... They were glad Tao and Frankenstein didn't know it and wouldn't call them it.

Their mouth curled thinking about it. Their designation was a reminder of all the bad things that had happened, that they'd found out. Of what their batchmates had gone through, what Crombell had done, making more of them like they'd meant nothing.

"What are you going to do now?" M-21 asked, watching Tao go through the book, tilting their head at whatever was on the page. M-21 could wait until they had enough energy to lift their head and their body didn't protest quite so much to start searching what to call themselves.

Frankenstein hummed. "I have a few more lectures to do here, but after that," they said, glancing at Tao, "we're leaving the country."

W-what? They were? M-21's mouth dried again as they stared at the two.

Frankenstein leaned over and patted them on the shoulder. "It's all right. We came here due to my job, and I'm no longer needed."

"And you _got_ that job to help you find your Lord," Tao muttered under their breath, one corner of their mouth twitching up.

"I did, yes." Frankenstein nodded.

They had?

Frankenstein's smile faded to a frown. "Though it seems we have a new job alongside that one."

"What is it?" M-21 asked.

"We need to check if that-" Frankenstein tilted their head towards the window. They had to be talking about the barrier. "-is stable everywhere else."

Oh. Tao had already mentioned that. And they _would_ need to do that, just in case. M-21 fidgeted with the edge of their blanket, their body tensing, even as their body protested at that. They should ask. Tao had said Frankenstein didn't mind answering questions. "…Can I come?"

Frankenstein blinked at them and so did Tao. Why did they seem surprised by their question? Did they not want-

"Of course you can, kid," Tao said, closing the book. "We're not leaving you behind."

They relaxed at those worse, sighing. That... That was good. They hadn't wanted to be left behind.

"...But," M-21 said, frowning, "what happens if it _is_ weakened somewhere else?" They wouldn't be able to close the barrier if they didn't have the help of a Loyard or a Landegre.

At that, Tao snickered, their shoulders shaking.

"Seira and Regis have already asked if they can join us," Frankenstein said, their voice wry.

They had? They wanted to work with demons? Which…they already had, but with some reservations.

"Regis' grandfather would like to speak with us beforehand however."

What was a grandfather? M-21 would have asked, but they yawned instead. They should sleep. Rest. Then they could ask whatever they wanted.

They were in a new world, in a new body that they were only just working out how to listen to. A new way of existing, of living.

But they weren't doing that alone. They would adapt.

M-21 closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

* * *

**END**


End file.
